22 years later
by MoriMiho1012
Summary: Mashiro Yume and Takagi Ichigo decide to write a manga, fighting the fear of being compared to their parents. Niizuma Akira promises he won't lose to them and makes a risky gamble with Ichigo, while Yume makes a promise to a special person.
1. A gamble and a deal

Hi! This is my first work, I hope you enjoy. English is not my first language, so I ask you to forgive my grammar mistakes. Please, review my story.

**Chapter 1: A gamble and a deal**

_When someone knew I was daughter of the famous seyuu Mashiro Miho and Mashiro Moritaka, also known, along with his friend Takagi Akito-san, as Ashirogi Muto... this person would suddenly acte all nice toward me... that's why I always hated when someone found that out._

Mashiro Yume was a regular 17 years old high school student. Her mother had a legendary beauty, which she didn't have, since Yume looked a lot like her father. The same eyes and facial traits, and a hair that, even long, was a little spiky. Her name, as she had been told, was given due to her parents' dreams that had become true. Yume meant Dream in Japanese.

Moritaka and Miho were hard-workers, but never negligented the family. They always cultivated a deep love for each other and for Yume, and always told her that they would support her dreams no matter what they could be.

_My dreams..._ Yume didn't know for sure what she wanted to her future. Voice acting never caught her interest, despite the fact that she didn't find her voice beautiful and considered herself too shy for that sort of job. She liked to draw and loved manga, like her father, but the very idea of becoming a mangaka terrified her. She had grown up at Ashirogi Muto's shadow, one of the most famous and popular mangakas in the whole world. _If I became a mangaka, I'd be compared to my father forever. Despite, I'm not even able to come up with a good plot for a manga._

Yume's best friend was Takagi Ichigo, who she knew since they were little kids. Not surprisingly, after all their mothers were best friends and their fathers were Ashirogi Muto. Ichigo also knew how was to live at the shadow of her father, but, differently from Yume, she didn't seem to mind. Ichigo was intelligent and good in sports, which made her the proud of her parents. She wasn't exactly a beauty queen, just like Yume. Ichigo had a straight brown hair constantly hold in a pony tail and wore red glasses; her personality was strong, and kind of violent, which made any guy who bothered her be punched until beg for mercy. Well, not every guy.

Niizuma Akira, a childhood friend of the girls, had, pretty much since he learned how to talk, had arguments with Ichigo, without ever apologizing. He acted cold and logical the entire time and, for what Yume deduced, his reason to pick fights with the Takagi girl was that he was jealous of her being better than him at everything. Akira had a short and dark purple hair and gray eyes that seemed to see through someone's soul. For some odd reason, he always gave his best to stick around Ichigo, even if he always said something in some moment that made the girl punch him. Niizuma Akira was son of two legends of manga: the couple Niizuma Eiji and Niizuma Aiko. However, he wasn't proud at all of them. "I hate manga! It's a low form of literature!" That's what Akira always complained about. Whenever his parents had to come to school, it was always his mother who appeared. Akira didn't like to talk about his father, as if he was embarrassed of him.

The three of them studied in the same class, but they sit far from each other. Ichigo had her seat at the back of the class, Akira sit at the front and Yume at the middle, next to a window. She always liked to draw characters of manga in her notebook. Because of that, the other girls used to call her _little kid_ and act with superiority toward her. However, if they discovered that her parents were famous, Yume would suddenly become their best friend.

_At least, in these three years of High School, nobody has found out yet._

Right in front of Yume, a boy called Yamada Kouji had his seat. He had bright gray hair and black eyes and was known for his geek and shy personality. Kouji's favorite hobby was to spend his time in the computer lab. Extremely introspective, he often received mean nicknames by his classmates, who found him a weird type. Yume found him wonderful.

_We never talked to each other, he probably doesn't even know who I am. Huh, maybe he has a secret crush on me since we saw each other for the first time and we're going to promise we won't see each other until make our dreams come true and get married. That story of them is so silly._

After school, Yume went back to her home and turned on the computer. She liked to read fanfictions of old mangas in FFnet, especially NaruHina ones. Looking for some good fic, she found one that happened during the war saga, in which Hinata fought alone tons of Zetsus.

_"In order to help Naruto-kun, to protect him... I trained hard... Now I'm sure I can walk by his side forever." Hinata's body began to shine with pure chakra, "this is the technique I created! ULTIMATE JUUKEN!"_

_Arrows of chakra flew to everywhere, reaching all the Zetsus. Their bodies' chakra were deeply affected and they couldn't even move anymore._

Yume stared at the lines for a while, amazed_. This is pretty cool, I wish Hinata had done something like that in the manga! Who's the writer?_

Yume read the name at the top of the page: Strawberry Muto. She paled_. No, it can't be!_

The next day, Yume entered the classroom half an hour before the class started. _I want to talk to her privately... not that it is a big deal, she can write fanfiction if she likes it, just like I can draw manga... damn, why do I keep thinking about Dad and Takagi-san?_

The door was suddenly opened, but the person who came through it wasn't the one Yume was expecting. Kouji entered the classroom and looked at Yume a little shocked. _I thought nobody would be here!_

"Y-Yamada-kun! G-good morning!" Yume tried to act normally, which, she realized right away, didn't work. _Damn it! Did I blush? I hope I didn't! If I blushed and he saw me... DAMN IT!_

"Good morning, Mashiro-san. It's good to see you here!" Kouji greeted gently, giving Yume an outstanding smile that took her breath away.

_He's smiling at me... HE'S SMILING AT ME! And now he's coming in my direction, DAMN IT!_

Kouji sit on the table in front of Yume's, facing her, for the girl's despair.

"I think we never were alone like this before... you know, I always wanted to know you better, Mashiro-san... there's a thing I want to ask you."

_Is he going to ask me to date him? Wait, what am I thinking?_

"Mashiro-san... is it possible...?

"W-what?" Yume's eyes were shining and she was trembling in anxiety. Kouji smiled shyly and questioned:

"Is it possible that you're daughter of Ashirogi Muto?"

Yume felt as if her heart was sinking. In a deeply disappointed tone, she replied, "Yeah."

"I knew it! I knew your drawing style was similar to his!" Yamada shouted in excitement.

"M-my drawing style?" Yume asked. _What is he talking about? I never showed my drawings to anyone!_

Kouji took a paper from his suitcase and showed it to her. It was a drawing of him that she had made in class one year before. A drawing she thought she had lost. Yume felt that the ground had vanished from under her feet.

"It fell from your notebook last year. I wanted to give it back, but I never was able to be alone with you... I'm too shy with other people. Your art is truly beautiful, Mashiro-san."

_He said that my art is beautiful? Is this really happening? Wait, he stayed with that drawing of him for a year and, apparently, he hadn't realized why I've done it? Or he does know that I like him, but doesn't want to put me in an uncomfortable situation? Could he like me too?_

"You know, Mashiro-san, since I was a kid, I had this dream... I always wanted to work with animes."

"Animes? Don't tell me you want to be a seyuu!" Yume asked scared, but Kouji laughed.

"What? No, I don't have a good voice for something like that. I want to be an animator and, maybe someday, direct animes." Yamada replied, blushing a little, "and... after seeing your drawing, I realized..."

_It's now! He's going to declare himself! Or maybe he's going to say something like "I'm sorry, I don't love you." I'm over-thinking! What is he going to say?_

"Mashiro-san..."

"Yes..."

"I'd like to make an anime based on your manga!"

Yume almost lost her balance and fell from her seat.

"What manga?"

"Well, since your drawings are so amazing and... you're Ashirogi Muto's daughter... I thought..." Kouji was talking slowly, finally noticing the astonished expression Yume had and getting upset, "you... don't want to become a mangaka, right? I'm so stupid, I'm sorry for bothering you."

"No, I'll become a mangaka for sure!" Yume almost yelled, getting on her feet suddenly, "I-I'm not good with plots, but... that's not a problem, Ichigo will make the story for it!"

"Takagi Ichigo-san? I never thought of her writing." Yamada commented.

"She's pretty good! If you don't know, Ashirogi Muto is actually two people: my father and hers!"

"Really? That's awesome, Mashiro-san! It's perfect!" Kouji stood up and held Yume's hands, without noticing. The girl felt she was floating, her heart was beating loudly.

"Yeah. Ichigo and I will write a great manga, then you can animate it and then... and then..."

"What are we going to do, Yume?" Ichigo, who had just arrived with Akira, questioned without understanding. Yume got very nervous when she saw her standing there.

"Yamada-kun, do you excuse me for a second?" Yume asked. Kouji nodded and she ran to Ichigo, grabbed her arm and pulled her in high-speed. They ran until they reached a desert hall. There, Yume explained what had happened.

"What the Hell were you thinking?" Ichigo asked furious, "Don't put me in a situation like this just to impress a guy. I'm not a writer!"

"Of course you're a writer, I read your fanfic yesterday!"

Ichigo paled, but tried to dissimulate, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the NaruHina fic you wrote, the one in which Hinata fought the Zetsus!"

"I-I didn't write any f-fic!" Ichigo was getting nervous, but Yume wouldn't take easy on her.

"The author's pen-name was Strawberry Muto. Seriously, you couldn't have picked a less obvious one."

"All right, all right! I admit it! I am Strawberry Muto, I love to write!" Ichigo confessed, embarrassed, "but nobody can ever know about this!"

"Why not? I think you write well."

Ichigo looked down, taking a breath before answering.

"Come on, you know why! If our parents found out that you like to draw and I like to write, they would persuade us to become the next Ashirogi Muto! I don't want that! I don't want to live forever at my father's shadow!"

Yume went serious when she heard that.

"I understand... I thought the same thing for a long time."

"You understand?"

"But, now that I think about it... I don't think there's other thing in my life that I enjoy as much as drawing." Yume said, "I was insecure, afraid of the pressure... but, deep down, I always knew that drawing manga was what I wanted to do."

Ichigo looked at the other, sadly, "I don't think I enjoy other things as much as I enjoy writing, either. However, I'm not sure if I can deal with the pressure on us."

"That's a simple problem," Akira, who had followed them and listened, hidden, to the conversation, showed himself and decided to talk, "you just need to keep secret about it to everyone and use a pen-name."

"Niizuma, were you spying on us?" Ichigo asked annoyed, Akira walked toward her until be face-to-face with the Takagi girl. His eyes were deeply serious.

"Takagi, is it how it's going to be? Every time I try to catch you, you'll find another thing for me to overcome?"

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo questioned, seeing Akira clenching his fists.

"That's fine. If you're going to become a mangaka, then I will not lose to you. I'm going to write the most popular manga in Japan!"

"Really?" Ichigo smiled mischievously, "That's a great gamble, but I don't have any intention to lose to you."

"Let's make a deal, Takagi," Akira added, "if your manga become more popular than mine, I'll do anything you want."

Ichigo's eyes widened. _He's serious about this. Why is he so determined, I thought he hated manga._

"But," Niizuma added, "if my manga surpasses yours... I want you..."

"What?" Ichigo questioned. Akira, who was blushing lightly, replied, "if my manga surpasses yours, I want you to marry me!"

The three of them stayed silent for several minutes, until Ichigo began to laugh loudly.

"D-Damn, Takagi, don't laugh at a man's feelings like-"

"Deal! I agree with your terms!" Ichigo said, smiling, for Akira's shock. Yume quickly pulled her to a close classroom.

"Have you lost your mind, Ichigo? What was that just now?" She asked, panicking.

"Don't worry, Yume. We're not going to lose to him." Ichigo stated, "We must trust in our art!"

_She's right, I can't have this kind of doubt. We must work hard._

"You know, Yume, I'm very surprised at you. You always said how you found your parents' promise of not seeing each other until their dreams became true silly, but you ended up doing a similar thing."

"It's totally different. I didn't make any other deal with Yamada-kun besides letting him animate our manga."

"Eh?" Ichigo was surprised, "Wait! Does it mean that he doesn't know that you like him?"

"I don't know." Yume answered, with a serene smile, "It doesn't matter, though. I'll just confess to him what I feel when we reach our objectives."

_I see,_ Ichigo thought, amused, _in the end, she's just like her parents._


	2. Battle manga and Genetic

Thank you for the reviews. :D

**Chapter 2: Battle manga and Genetic**

Taking advantage of the fact that her parents used to spend the most part of the day working, Yume invited Ichigo to go with her to her home and talk about ideas for the manga. The Mashiros' apartment was big, but not filled of expensive things. The furniture and the decoration were simple and elegant, predominantly in neutral colors. Yume's bedroom, on the other hand, couldn't be more chaotic and colorful. The walls were yellow and had multicolored flowers drawn on them. The desk and the chair were red, the bed had orange sheets and, all over the place, there were books, papers, pencils and pens lying.

"It's incredible how your room hasn't changed since we were little girls. It still makes me blink a lot." Ichigo joked, taking a seat on the bed. Yume sat on the chair of her desk, between the bed and the window.

"I can't help it! That's how the room of a creative person should look like." Yume replied.

"Huh, my room is always clean and organized and I'm creative too." Ichigo added in a taunting way.

"Well, since Akira hangs out there with you almost all the time, it's not surprising that you don't want the bedroom to be messy."

"What do you mean by that? It's not as if I want to impress him or anything!" Ichigo commented a bit mad, avoiding looking at Yume, who just smiled to herself. "Anyway, we should be working!"

"That's right. What kind of story do you prefer?"

Ichigo gave a shy smile to the other girl before answering.

"The type of manga that I love the most… is the battle manga."

Yume wasn't expecting that and couldn't avoid making a very confused expression, which Ichigo could notice.

"You were expecting me to say something like 'cult' or 'morally ambiguous,' right?"

"Sorry. It's just that Takagi-san's stories are usually dense and intellectual. I thought you'd have a similar taste."

"Do you think that battle manga is inferior to cult manga?" Ichigo questioned a bit offended, for Yume's surprise.

"Of course not. Actually, I think I prefer battle mangas as well." She admitted, which made Ichigo smile.

"Which ones are your favorites?" Ichigo asked with genuine interest.

"Well. I like those old mangas, like One Piece and Naruto. The speed of the story and the charismatic characters filled me with enthusiasm. Not just the battles made me like them, but also the way that the stories made me feel. I'm not sure if I can explain it properly." Yume began to talk fast.

"They make you smile no matter how sad you may be… and they can motivate you no matter the difficulties you may face." Ichigo tried to explain, "At least, that's what makes me love battle manga. Do you know which manga has always been my favorite? Bleach."

"Because of the name of the protagonist?" Yume asked, laughing a little while the other girl blushed on embarrassment.

"What? No! Well, I did like the protagonist, but my favorite character was Rukia. Do you believe that the Soul Society arc made me cry sometimes, but when I read that Ichigo had saved Rukia because she had made the rain in his heart stop I felt happy?"

"It's kind of weird to hear you talking about another Ichigo." Yume commented, "But I know what you mean. I remember when my Dad bought me the entire collection of One Piece. I can't tell how many times I cried while reading it, but they weren't few. When Ace died I almost stopped reading the story. However, when Luffy became the pirate king at the end… the smile didn't vanish from my face for over a week. The same happened when Naruto became Hokage. We really like those old mangas, don't we?"

"Yeah." Ichigo said, not so enthusiastically anymore, "But battle manga are not so popular nowadays. There hasn't been any big success since One Piece ended. People don't seem to like the style anymore."

Yume stood up and went to the bed, where she sat in front of Ichigo.

"Dad told me once that an editor had told him that a manga just needed to be interesting in order to be published. If we make a really good battle manga, it will be a big hit in Shounen Jump." She stated.

Ichigo stared at Yume for some seconds with a serious face, questioning then:

"So you want to make a battle manga with me and publish it in Jump?"

"Yes, don't you?"

"Of course I do! But… your drawings…"

"What about them?" Yume asked, without understanding.

"They're very realistic, like Mashiro-san's. Maybe they're not suited for battle manga."

Yume paled a little when she heard that. Ichigo seemed to be depressed over something.

"I can adapt my style, Ichigo. However, I don't think that this is the real problem. Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Ichigo bit her lower lip and replied:

"Our dads weren't suited for battle manga. They tried to write it, but they failed."

"Are you saying that Genetic dictates that we'll fail if we try to write a battle manga?" Yume couldn't believe she had just heard that.

"I didn't mean-"

"I don't give a damn about Genetic!" Yume almost shouted, "We both like battle manga and we can make a good one for sure!"

Ichigo studied her friend for a while, making the other feel uncomfortable.

"What is it, Ichigo?"

"Nothing. It's just that you sounded like a shounen heroine."

Yume blushed when she heard that, but tried to joke over it:

"Well, if you want to create a main character like me, I won't oppose-"

"It's a good idea. There could be a heroine based on me too. They would be strong, determined and totally cool!" Ichigo stated with her eyes shining.

"We're going to need male characters too. It's shounen manga, after all."

"That's easy! The hero may be inspired in Yamada Kouji-kun!" Ichigo happily suggested. Yume's face turned deep red.

"W-what are you saying?"

"Don't make such a face! Let's create a character inspired in Akira too. He would be a good villain."

"Ha ha, you do know that the villains are usually more loved than the heroes, right?"

"Why are you saying that with such a taunting face?" Ichigo asked, finding her friend's attitude suspicious.

"No reason. Have you thought about the plot already?"

"Not yet. I want to make something cool and original, but I don't find my ideas good enough."

"You should write them and show me, so I can tell you my opinion. When we agree on a story, we can make a manuscript and contact an editor."

They heard the front door being opened and went to the living room to check who had entered the apartment. There, they found their fathers, Mashiro Moritaka and Takagi Akito. They hadn't changed a lot since they were teenagers. Mashiro had let a beard grow a little and Takagi's hair wasn't as messy as it used to be in his youth.

"Dad, Takagi-san, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be at the studio?" Yume asked, nervously.

"Hi, Yume-chan. I didn't know that Ichigo was here too. Saiko had drawn a new character design, but forgot to bring it to the studio, so we came to pick it."

"Were you girls studying?" Moritaka questioned. Yume and Ichigo exchanged some highly suspicious looks before one of them decided to answer.

"Y-yes, Mashiro-san. We were studying, what else would we be doing, right? Ha ha." Ichigo said, forcing a laugh that anyone could identify as fake, "I think I'm going home now to do some… stuff. Bye, Mashiro-san. See you later, Dad!"

"I'll go with her until the street." Yume added. Both girls left the apartment quickly.

"Shuujin, is it me or they're hiding something from us?"

"They're definitely hiding something from us."

"What do you think it is?" Saiko asked worried. Shuujin adjusted his glasses dramatically and said:

"Boys."

"What? No! My Yume-chan is too shy to have a boyfriend! Unless… you think there's some pervert stalking her?"

"You're too overprotective over Yume-chan, Saiko." Takagi said, jokingly. At the street, Yume and Ichigo restarted to talk.

"You're probably the worst liar in the world." Yume stated.

"Don't talk as if you were any better." The other protested.

"So, are you going to your home now and think about plot ideas?"

"Yes. Meanwhile you could practice your drawing. By tomorrow, I must have had some good idea."

"Okay. See you tomorrow, Ichigo."

The Takagi girl walked slowly down the street, observing the people. _I wonder if Akira has had any good idea already._

At night, Akira was staring at a piece of paper completely white, sitting at the desk of his bedroom. He had spent the entire afternoon trying to come up with some good plot, unsuccessfully. The impatience was eating him alive_. Damn it! I must think in something soon, why is it so difficult? It never seemed hard for my parents! What do I do?_

**I hope the chapter was interesting. Please, leave reviews.**


	3. Apartments and plot ideas

Thanks to everybody who reads this fic and special thanks to Sakurane for reviewing it. I appreciate your reviews very much. :D

**Chapter 3: Apartments and plot ideas**

_I spent the entire afternoon and the whole night thinking about a good plot. How come I wasn't able to write anything?_ Akira was still staring at the white paper on his desk, filled of despair and deception. It was already morning and he had to go to the school, so he stood up and went to the bathroom. Minutes later he went to the kitchen for the breakfast. His mother was sitting in front of his father, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a book at the same time; her hair was short, the way she liked to keep it since she was in High School. Niizuma Eiji was eating rice and drawing a battle scene on a table napkin, among some excited screams and noises. Eiji had now a little mustache and kept his hair messy and a little bit long. His favorite clothes were large, comfortable and made of cotton, preferable in dark colors. Eiji also still had the habit to maintain pens behind his ears and in his pockets.

"You could wait until we go to the studio to work, Eiji-sensei." Niizuma Aiko said in an indifferent tone of voice. Eiji looked up to her and replied:

"The chapter you wrote for _Magnolia_ yesterday was too exciting, Aiko-sensei! Action, mystery, thriller, HAAAAAAA!"

Akira examined his father for a few minutes. _It's so easy for him._

"Akira-chan, is there something up?" Eiji asked, realizing the unusual attention his son was paying in his drawings. Akira quickly turned his head to a piece of bread in his plate, answering a dry _Nothing is up._

"Akira, pretty soon you'll be entering College, have you selected a place to move already?" Akira's mother inquired.

"I'm going to ask Ichigo's grandfather's help with it, so I can find a good and cheap place." Akira replied in a monotone voice.

"College? Isn't it too soon to think about it?" Eiji questioned without taking his sight from his drawing.

"I'm already 17. By the end of the month I'll be graduating from High School and doing the entrance tests for Colleges." Akira said, a bit annoyed. "I want to study European Literature, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget, Akira-chan. What I meant was isn't it too soon to decide what you're going to do for the rest of your life? You're always so serious about everything; young people shouldn't act like that." Eiji said, studying his son with serious eyes. Akira paled because of what his father had just told him.

"I'm going to be late for school, excuse me." Akira stood up, grabbing his scholar bag and leaving the apartment. _Stupid Dad!_

Far from there, in the apartment of the Takagi family, Ichigo had finished her breakfast and was waiting for her mother to put her lunch in a box.

_I wrote ten plots last night and I saved them in my pen drive to show to Yume in school. She'll be so happy!_

"Mmm, just in thinking that soon you're going to the College and move out and I won't cook for you anymore makes me depressed, Ichi-chan. The only relieve is that Yume-chan will be your roommate and will take care of you." Kaya said sadly. She had let her hair grow and now it reached her cincture, which made her look younger than she really was. Takagi Akito was at the table drinking a cup of coffee and eating rice. _Ichigo is going to College to study Psychology, it's a regular career. Doesn't it bother her? I just hope she can be happy._

"I wonder if Yume-chan is going to have classes with you." Kaya commented excited.

"I doubt it, she's going to study Design, remember?" Ichigo replied.

"So maybe Akira-kun may have classes with you. He's going to need to move too, how cool would it be if you and he became neighbors?" Kaya taunted her daughter; Ichigo focused her attention at the rice in her front and pretended she didn't hear the comment.

"The entrance tests for College are difficult, you're studying, right?" Kaya asked.

"Of course we are studying, Mom." Ichigo said, while eating.

"And after you get in College you must keep studying. It's probably going to occupy the most part of your time." Kaya commented, without realizing the effect of her words on Ichigo. The teenager finished her meal, took her lunch and left the apartment with an apprehensive expression that disturbed her father. _Is there something upsetting her?_ He wondered.

Moments later, at the school, Akira had arrived with the worst disposition possible. _Damn it, I got so mad at Dad that I didn't eat my breakfast or bring my lunch. And I didn't get any sleep last night. I wonder if Ichigo has done anything._

"Yo, Niizuma-kun!" Someone called him. Akira turned around and saw Yamada Kouji coming toward him.

"Yamada? Hi." Niizuma replied, lacking of energy and enthusiasm.

"You don't look so good, Niizuma-kun. Have you worked until late last night too?"

"Too? What do you mean, Yamada?" Akira asked, curious.

"Well, I have two jobs after school, you see? It's for me to pay the rent and my computer programming course." Kouji replied, smiling.

"You have school, two jobs and a computer programming course? Do your parents let you overwork like that?" Akira inquired a bit worried.

"Well, my mother doesn't live with me and I wouldn't accept her husband's money. My father died years ago." Kouji said, with his smile was fading. Akira felt sorry for him.

"Yamada, I'm…"

"Don't worry about it, Niizuma-kun! It's all in the past and the future is the only thing that matters, right?" Yamada replied, beaming widely. However, Akira could tell that his smile wasn't an honest one. "We should go to the class, right, Niizuma-kun?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Next week the final tests are going to start, then will begin the entrance tests for the Colleges. It's exciting, isn't it?"

"You're going to College too, Yamada?"

"Yes. I'll study Computer Engineering. You know, to help me in becoming an animator."

"I see." _This Yamada guy… I have a strange feeling about him._

At the classroom, Ichigo and Yume were already reunited. The Takagi girl gave a pen drive to the other. Yume connected the device to her hand computer (which used to be called cell phone in the distant past) and rolled the icons on the screen with her finger.

"You've written ten story plots, Ichigo? That's amazing!" Yume said with excitement.

"Yeah, thanks." Ichigo replied, kind of depressed.

"What is it?" Yume questioned.

"Nothing, it's just that my parents were talking about College and apartments this morning and how we're going to be very busy." Ichigo explained, taking a seat at the table next to Yume's.

"Ha, the greatest genius of the school is concerned about organizing her time?" Yume joked.

"I'm serious. I don't want to have bad grades in College, but also I don't want to put the manga aside."

"Don't worry about that. If Akira's mother could study at a good College and be a mangaka, I don't see why you can't. Or you mean you don't want to go to the College?"

"Of course I want to go to the College, Yume!" Ichigo stated, "I like Psychology and I always wanted to study about this."

"I know it, I also love Design." Yume stated.

"Aren't you concerned at all, Yume?" Ichigo asked her friend. Yume gave the other a determined and strong look before answering:

"You just need to see things in a different perspective. Instead of thinking about College and manga as two separated things, why not put them together? We can use what we learn at College in our stories." Yume suggested with a smile. Ichigo stared at her for a moment, smiling then.

"Thank you, Yume."

"It's alright. Is your grandfather looking for an apartment for us?"

"Yes, why?"

"Ask him to find an apartment with a big living room; we're going to need space to work."

Kouji entered the classroom at that moment and greeted the girls politely. Akira had followed him until the door, but preferred to wait outside, hidden behind a wall. He didn't want to confront Ichigo at that moment, without a single idea of plot.

"Niizuma-kun? Aren't you entering the classroom?" A young brunette man who came from the end of the hall questioned. He was Akira's History teacher, Tsubasa-san.

"O-of course, Tsubasa-sensei." Akira replied. He went to his seat and saw, in a quick glance, Yume and Ichigo whispering while seeing something in a hand computer.

"Mashiro-san, Takagi-san, I'd appreciate if the two of you paid attention to me, this is our last class before the final tests." Tsubasa scolded the girls.

"We're sorry, Tsubasa-sensei." Ichigo apologized.

"It's fine. I remember how it was when I was in High School. History was the only assignment I used to pay attention to." The teacher sighed, nostalgically.

"History? Such a boring assignment." One of the teenagers in the room said, which made some students laugh.

"History is not boring at all!" Tsubasa contested, "Studying History is like traveling in time and understanding the world. It's like living an adventure, that's the reason why I wanted to be a History teacher. Well, I think we should start the class, right?"

Akira wasn't able to pay attention to the class anymore. _Traveling in time… living adventures… it's kind of classic, but, if I work properly… this might be interesting._

Yume spent the class reading the plots Ichigo had written. After finishing it, she had come to a decision. _No doubt about it. GEO is the one!_


	4. Secret discovered and Graduation

I'm really sorry for keep you waiting for so long. Here is chapter 4, finally. Thank you for the kind reviews.

**Chapter 4: Secret discovered and Graduation**

Miho was preparing herself to go to work when her cell phone rang. She hadn't changed a lot in 22 years, still being a lot beautiful. The most remarkable difference, besides some small signs of time, was that her hair was a little bit longer than she used to keep it in the past. Miho answered the phone, while she took a seat at the sofa of the living room.

"Hey, Miho!"

"Hello, Kaya. Did something happen?"

"You talk as if I needed a special reason to call you."

"You don't need to get over-sensitive about it. Ha ha."

Kaya sounded somehow depressed, which Miho could not ignore.

"Today is the kids' graduation from High School and in a few days they'll be doing the entrance tests for College." Kaya whispered sadly, over the phone.

"Yeah. They grow up fast, don't they?" Miho commented, nostalgically. She stood up and headed for Yume's room, only to take a look at the place.

"I'm glad they're going to live together, so they can take care of each other and not feel lonely." Kaya said, "But I'm going to miss my Ichi-chan so much. Akito-san doesn't talk a lot about it, but I know that he's going to miss her too."

"That's just the way men are, Kaya." Miho stated, analyzing her daughter's messy room, "Yume has been locked in her room for days, studying. I don't remember I ever saw her so focused before. She got good grades at the final exams in High Scholl."

"That's good. Ichigo got the best grades of the class and didn't even have to study very much. Lately, in fact, she has been reading some weird stuff."

"What weird stuff?"

"Books about Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geology. I wonder the reason for it."

"Well, Ichigo-chan always has been a braniac, you shouldn't be surprised."

"Don't call Ichi-chan a braniac, Miho!" Kaya protested comically, making Miho laugh. However, a purple briefcase on Yume's bed called the woman's attention. _She never puts her things at their places._ Miho took the briefcase up, but it hadn't been properly closed, which made a ton of papers fell from it.

"Damn it." Miho exclaimed.

"What happened?"

"I wanted to put Yume's briefcase at other place, but some papers fell from…" Miho stopped talking suddenly.

"Miho? Why aren't you talking anymore? Miho?"

"S-sorry, Kaya. I'll call you later, okay?" Miho apologized before closing her cell phone. She examined the papers spread over the bed. _These drawings… could they be manga names? Why has Yume done this? _Miho picked the paper that seemed to be the first page of the story. There was a young miner girl drawn on it, with the night sky behind her. At other pages, there were some drafts of a huge underground city, machines and dark mountains at what seemed to be the superficies of a cold and desert planet. Above and below the pages, there were words written:

_GEO_

_The planet Earth has been dislocated from its orbital by the passage of an unknown comet. This event killed almost the entire humanity and sent the planet to a far orbit, where the sunlight hardly appears. In this cold planet, the remaining people and forms of life have to live at the subsoil thanks to the geothermal energy. However, a part of the humanity evolved and became able to adapt and live in that extreme and cold environment, at the superficies._

_It didn't take too much time until these two races clashed._

Meanwhile, at the school, Yume and her colleagues were at the Gymnasium, waiting for a speech of Ichigo and Akira, the best students of the class. She was sitting at the front, not paying attention at the conversations around her. While she was distracted, someone sat on the chair at her left side. She turned her head to that direction and saw Yamada Kouji looking at her and smiling warmly.

"H-hi, Yamada-kun." She greeted, trying not to let him notice the great affect he caused in her.

"Good morning, Mashiro-san." Kouji replied friendly, "So, this is the last day of High School… we might not see each other for a while."

Yume felt as if cold water filled her insides. _That's right; this is probably the last time when I can be like this with Yamada-kun._

"Hmm, Mashiro-san… there's something I want to give you. Can you please close your eyes for a few seconds?" Kouji asked politely.

"C-close my eyes?" Yume inquired, blushing violently.

"Yeah. The thing is that I'm kind of shy, so, if you could close your eyes for a bit, I'd be very glad." Kouji explained, while he scratched his head and stared at the floor.

"Sure!" Yume stated, closing her eyes quickly. _He's going to give me something, but he's too shy to do it while I'm looking. Oh my gosh, could it be…? Is Yamada-kun going to kiss me? What? Wait! I have to calm down and think logically. He doesn't know that I like him and I don't think he's the kind of guy who steals kisses from girls. Not that it wouldn't be nice… it's taking a while, isn't it?_

"All right, you can open your eyes now, Mashiro-san." Kouji said, excitedly. Yume did so and saw the young man holding a pen in front of her face. She grabbed it and examined it.

"It's a G-pen, isn't it?" She asked; her voice came out a bit sad over her wrong assumption about what she was going to receive from Kouji.

"I bought in a specialized store; I was told it is the pen used by the greatest mangakas." Kouji told her, noticing then that she didn't seem very happy. "Mashiro-san… is it everything ok? Didn't you like the pen?"

"What? No! I-I mean, I liked it! I liked it a lot; it's the best thing someone has ever given to me!" She tried to fix the situation and ended up exaggerating a bit. Kouji's face lit up when he heard those words.

"Thank you, Mashiro-san."

"Huh? Why are you thanking me? I'm the one who should thank you, Yamada-kun." She protested, confused. Kouji smiled at her and replied:

"Mashiro-san, it was the first time that anyone ever…" He began. However, he never finished that sentence. Instead, he asked Yume:

"Could you please give me your e-mail? I'd like to keep contact with you. We could exchange e-mails and encourage each other." He tried to change the subject. Yume took a piece of paper from the pocket of her jacket ant wrote her e-mail on it. Before giving it to the boy, she looked at him seriously and said:

"I'm going to give you this, but I'd like if we could personally meet and talk once in a while."

Kouji was surprised by that sentence, but he smiled at Yume after a few seconds and said "Sure, I'd love to."

And then, it was time for the speech of Ichigo and Akira. They walked to a wooden stage that was built in the Gymnasium, solemnly. Once they reached the pulpit, where two microphones were waiting for them, they studied the audience for a while.

"Hello, everyone!" Ichigo greeted happily, "This is our last day in High School, you can say that it is the first day of our adult life. It's kind of scary, isn't it?"

"What are you scared of?" Someone yelled from the crowd.

"If there's anyone who shouldn't be worried it's you, Takagi!" Other person yelled, meanly.

"What can you possibly understand? You're probably going to have a great job right after you start College!" Another person added. Ichigo was feeling very uncomfortable with that. She never had been a popular person. Akira didn't like the situation either. He decided to take his microphone and talk.

"Hey, you all! Shut your stupid mouths up!" Akira yelled, angry. The crowd went silent instantaneously, in shock.

"N-Niizuma…" Ichigo muttered. Akira didn't take his eyes away from the students in his front.

"Takagi is a genius. She has been successful in everything she has ever tried in her life, without ever failing. She has walked ahead of us since the beginning, it's annoying, I get it."

_What is he doing?_ Yume asked herself, worried about her best friend. Ichigo stared apprehensively at Akira, who continued to talk:

"However, have any of you ever thought about how is it for her? Have you ever thought of how hard it is to deal with the pressure of being the best all the time? How it is to live under everybody's high expectations? If you are so frustrated, blame your own lack of competence or guts, don't blame her!"

"Niizuma… thank you." Ichigo whispered, smiling softly at him. Akira scratched his head and looked to the opposite side, saying "It's no big deal. Looks like I really made those idiots think, huh?"

One of the students, a blond boy called Yamahisa, stood up, holding something at his hand. One after another, the rest of the students, excluding Yume and Kouji, did the same.

"What is it? Wasn't I clear enough?" Akira questioned arrogantly. Suddenly the students began to throw paper balls at him and Ichigo.

"Argh, what are they doing?" Ichigo asked, confused. Akira grabbed her hand and ran with her to outside the Gymnasium, while the teachers tried to calm the students. Yume and Kouji had run from there too. The four of them stopped running when they were far enough from the school, in front of a coffee shop.

"Ha ha ha, it sure was a funny graduation ceremony." Kouji said, laughing.

"Are you stupid or what?" Akira questioned, irritated.

"Don't call Yamada-kun stupid!" Yume defended Kouji, angrily.

"Let's calm down, everyone. We have to admit it, it was an unforgettable day." Ichigo said. She was very happy and smiled widely.

"I think we should go home now. I have a manga script to finish and some study to do for the College's entrance test." Akira said.

"Don't you mean manuscript, Niizuma?" Ichigo questioned.

"I can't draw, Takagi. I'm going to write the script and then go see an editor in Shounen Jump and find an illustrator there." Akira replied, annoyed. Ichigo studied him for a bit_. He's the son of one of the greatest mangakas in Shounen Jump, whose drawings are considered masterpieces, and yet Akira can't draw? When he talked about pressure and high expectations… could he…?_

"What's up with that serious face, Takagi?" Akira asked.

"It's nothing. I think I'm going home too. Yume, when you finish the manuscript, you call me, ok?"

"Sure, since I have to study for the entrance test, I should be done with it by the end of the week."

"Ok, then." Ichigo said, walking away with Akira.

"Mashiro-san, I have to go now, too. I'm sorry." Kouji told Yume.

"It's fine, Yamada-kun, don't worry." Yume said, smiling. Kouji was leaving already when he turned around and told her "I'm looking forward the day when our dreams become true."

"So do I, Yamada-kun." Yume replied, touched. After she was left alone, she decided to enter the coffee shop and drink something, but, right after she entered the place, a young man, a little taller than she was, with bright brown hair and beautiful brown eyes, who was carrying a hot cappuccino and was dressed as a waiter, accidently bumped into her and dropped the liquid over her uniform.

"AHH, IT'S HOT!" Yume cried in pain. The young man helped her to stand up.

"I'm so deeply sorry. Please, come with me, I'll show you the restroom." He apologized. The owner of the place, a 40 years old blond woman, watched the scene.

_He has done a stupid thing again, that good-for-nothing-Hiramaru._


	5. The goodfornothing and the heroine

I'm so so so sorry for not updating this story sooner. By the end of this year I'm going to have a really difficult entrance test, so I've been studying almost all the time. I don't know if there's still someone expecting for new chapters or if someone is going to review this chapter after all this time.

I am really deeply sorry and I'll try to update at least once a month.

**Chapter 5: The good-for-nothing and the heroine**

Yume was led by the young man to the restroom, where she would finally be able to wash herself. She was left there by the other, who had said something about getting a piece of clothe to her. Five minutes later, after realizing due to intense wash that her uniform wouldn't be cleaned just with a faucet's water, Yume heard something being hung up at the doorknob.

"There's a T-shirt of mine here. You can put it on while we put your uniform in the wash machine. Only your blouse and your jacket are stained, right?" The young man said, hesitantly, at the outside.

"That's right. Thank you for the T-shirt". Yume replied, opening the door briefly and picking the T-shirt as quick as she could. After closing the door again, she took off her green jacket and the white blouse of her uniform, placing them above the sink. Luckily, her gray schoolskirt hadn't been stained. Yume examined the T-shirt she had just received. For her great surprise, it was a Kimi ni Todoke T-shirt, with the protagonists (a couple) looking cutely and shyly at each other. _This guy must like old shoujo manga,_ she thought amazed. Once Yume had put the T-shirt on and took her stained uniform from the sink, she opened the door and found the guy leaning against the wall in front of it. Without saying anything, he took the pieces of clothe she was carrying and ran through the hall. She followed him until a little laundry at its end.

"Excuse me, you haven't told me your name yet." She said, while carefully studying how the young man was putting her clothes in the washing machine. In fact, he had a pretty face, but seemed to constantly have a worried look, as if expecting a disaster to occur at any time.

Upon hearing what she said, the boy was a little surprised and slightly scratched his chin with his hand full of foam, murmuring "people do not usually want to know my name because they are always angry at the things I do." _So he causes a lot of trouble to people__?_Yume wondered, trying to avoid laughing at the comical way the boy accidentally spread foam all over his face, scratching at it nervously.

"Mmm… my name is Takuya. Hiramaru Takuya-san. I'm 18 years old, Virgo, AB positive, I like shoujo manga, love stories, kitties, puppies and cute things in general. Oh, I also like cake and tea. I have a horrible luck, so bad things happen all the time around me. People usually call me good-for-nothing, no-good and useless. My dream for the future is to find an extraordinary girl, fall in love with her and then marry her." He listed with enthusiasm. Yume heard that completely stunned. _What the heck __was that about?__I just__wanted to know his name, not his profile!_

Yume then realized that Takuya was looking at her with great interest and expectation. 

"So what's your name?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm Mashiro Yume."

"Yume? You're a Dream, how beautiful! What else?"

"What do you mean? You're not expecting me to do a long introduction-" Yume went silent after seeing that the washing machine had started to shake and make noise.

"Oh, no. That defect again!" Takuya said, frightened, running out of the laundry and dragging Yume with him.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked when they were already in the hall. They heard when the lid of the washing machine was opened by the water pressure and then saw a wave of foam coming out of the laundry and invading the hall.

"Eek, let's go to my room." Takuya said, climbing a ladder near and entering the coffee shop with Yume, where another ladder rose to the top floor where his room was located.

Running into the room, they stumbled into one of the several manga piles on the floor. Takuya was able to trim Yume before she fell to the floor. The room was very small and simple, with only a two doors closet, one single bed and a window, but was filled with manga, pens and drawings everywhere. Yume couldn't help thinking that that room looked a bit like hers. While Takuya sat up in bed with both hands on his head desperately wondering what he would say to his boss, Yume took a drawing from the floor. It showed a couple of children holding hands, smiling in a field of flowers. _His technique__is very good.__Looks like a pro__.__ What is such a good artist doing in a place like this__?_

"What do I do? Hida-san said that if I messed up again she would fire me. She'll tell Mom about this, and Mom will try to convince me that I should become a mangaka like her and Dad, but Dad would say that the life of a mangaka is very painful and filled with despair." Takuya was whining and Yume had her attention caught by the monologue.

"What did you say? Are you also mangaka's child?"

"Also?"

**Five ****minutes later.**

"YOU ARE THE SON OF AOKI-SENSEI AND HIRAMARU-SENSEI FROM SHONEN JUMP?" Yume couldn't believe in that, sitting at the bed due the shock.

"Ashirogi Muto… I think Mom told me something about the artist's love story. Ha, so your name is Yume because-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know about their dreams coming true. More importantly, what is someone with so much talent and parents who are already pros doing in a place like this? Why aren't you in a magazine?" Yume asked, showing him the drawing she had picked up.

"Y-you liked it?" Takuya inquired shyly, blushing a bit.

"It's really good compared to the ones I draw. If I could do something so beautiful already, being serialized in Jump with Ichigo wouldn't be so hard." She said amazed, while analyzing his work.

"Eh? You want to be serialized in Jump? Why? My Dad always says that the life of a mangaka is worse than Hell and that if it weren't for Mom he would have quit it a long time ago." Takuya pointed.

"My dream is to become a mangaka. Don't you have dreams? What do you aim for life?" Yume asked a bit annoyed, looking into Takuya's eyes fiercely, which made him blush hard.

"I have a dream," he confessed, "since I was a kid and I read one of Mom's mangas… my dream is to find love."

"Huh?" Yume didn't get what he was saying, "I meant a career dream. What do you want to do in life?"

"I don't care about career! I decided a long time ago that I'd only dedicate my life to love."

"What the hell are you saying?" Yume was losing her patience, "you can't be serious about it! You can have a career dream and love, you don't need to choose one!"

"I never said I wasn't going to work. I'm working now and after I lose this job I'll get another one. I don't care about where I work. Even if I wanted many things, if I didn't focus on the most important one I'd feel I'd be negligent to it." Takuya stated. Pale, Yume stood up and walked to the door.

"You are crazy. I'm getting out of here. You can forget about the uniform."

"You're not the first person to tell me that I'm crazy." Takuya whispered.

"But, you know?" Yume spoke without turning around to look at him, "I don't think anyone would fall in love for someone who wastes a precious talent like you. Not trying to be serialized in a magazine when you draw so well… it gets on my nerves. I would never fall for someone like you."

After saying that, Yume left, without realizing the effect of her words in Takuya. After 10 minutes, his boss entered his room furious and yelled at him because of the mess he had made in the laundry. However, he wasn't listening at all. Instead, he was staring the door with the face all red.

"Hey, good-for-nothing-Hiramaru, are you listening? It doesn't matter if you're my friend's son, I don't want you here anymore!" She stated.

"It's fine, I'm going back to my family's place." Takuya replied simply.

"What? If I do remember, Your mother told you that you couldn't go back until you decided what to do in your life."

"If you're talking about a career, I have decided on one." Takuya spoke with serenity, "I always wondered when I would find love. Since I was a child, I've dreamt on meeting my own heroine, who would inspire me and give me a direction."

"And now you realized how insane your dream was and decided to take life seriously?" Hida asked.

"I will never give up on my dream!" Hiramaru stated, standing up with his fists clenched, which surprised his boss, "I decided on this career because of my dream. It hit me suddenly… when she talked to me and when she looked to me… it felt like a hurricane."

"You're talking about that girl that just left?" Hida asked in confusion.

"Yes." Takuya smiled largely as he talked, "I've found the heroine I looked for since I was little. In order to get her, I'll have to dedicate myself to work. I'll become a mangaka in name of love!"

After arriving home, Yume had locked herself in her room, thinking about a certain thing she had heard from Takuya earlier. Later, when both her parents had arrived, she went to the living room to meet them.

"Yume-chan, is there something wrong?" Saiko asked, worried over his daughter's serious face. Miho didn't ask anything. Her intuition told her that it had something to do with the manuscript she had found in Yume's room earlier.

"Dad, Mom," Yume began, taking a seat on a chair in front of the sofa, where her parents had sat, "I have a dream."

Saiko's eyes widened after hearing that, Miho, on the other hand, didn't show any surprise.

"I have this dream there isn't long… or maybe I had it for a long time but never realized. I can't tell you details yet, sorry. I was planning on hiding it from you until it became true. I'd move to an apartment with Ichigo and, while we studied for college, we would work in our dream too."

_It's a dream of both of them._ Moritaka thought.

"You know that I always said that I liked Design and I wanted to study it in college," Yume continued, without realizing that she was now staring at the floor instead of her parents, "even after 'discovering' my dream, I thought I could still study Design and that it could help in my dream somehow… I thought I could do both things, but maybe… maybe I was overestimating me. I've always been around extraordinary people, like you two and Ichigo… I know she can do both things, I don't think there's something she can't do. However, I'm not extraordinary; I can't be arrogant to think that I am… I'm just normal… I'm afraid that if I tried to do too many things I'd mess up and negligent my dream. I probably wouldn't be thinking this kind of thing if I hadn't run into that idiotic guy today…"

"Yume," Miho spoke, gently, "what you're trying to tell us is that you don't want to go to the college anymore in order to dedicate yourself to your dream?"

Yume nodded, afraid._ Are they going to get mad at me? Are they going to be disappointed? Are they going to force me to tell them what my dream is? What if they talk to Ichigo's parents? Is this really the right decision? What is Ichigo going to say after I tell her? Should I reconsider this?_

Suddenly, she felt both her parents embracing her.

"It's great that you have a dream Yume-chan!" Saiko said, happily, "Fight for it, don't be ever afraid of conquering it! You can count with us. We can give you some financial help until you stabilize."

"You can tell us everything when it's time, we trust you. But never think that you are not extraordinary. You don't know how great you are." Miho whispered in her daughter's ear. Yume felt water forming in her eyes against her will.

"Thank you, Mom, Dad."


	6. Editorial Department and Partnership

Chapter of this month, hope you like it. :)

**Chapter 6: Editorial Department and Partnership**

"Heh? Mashiro is not coming for the test?" Akira inquired astonished. He had just met Ichigo at Todai, where they were going to do the entrance test.

The two had already entered the large classroom and sat next to each other. As there were still some minutes for the test to start, they took the opportunity to chat.

"Well, she said she would focus only on the manga and didn't want to be negligent." Ichigo replied somewhat annoyed, resting her head in one hand, "the case is that not long ago she told me something very different to encourage me to come to Todai. I found it strange that she changed her mind from one moment to another, without even talking to me before. I am her best friend, dammit! I'm not being mean, right?"

"Have you two argued when Mashiro told you that?" Akira asked, fiddling with his pencil; Ichigo denied.

"We talked on the internet; not face to face. Moreover, she asked if I was upset with her."

"But you were. And it seems that you still are."

"Don't talk as if you didn't know how Yume is. She worries too much about what others think. Besides, I don't have the right to say how she has to live. Tomorrow we'll move into the new apartment and take the manuscript to Jump; I don't want a heavy atmosphere between us."

"I moved yesterday and today I'll take my script to Jump. I just hope they have a designer worthy of my literary work of art."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Niizuma, but Shueisha doesn't hire students from Kindergarten." Ichigo joked, giving him a long laugh. Akira was going to protest, but decided against it. _She doesn't look so upset now._

__Thus, the test began. Ichigo was the first to finish and go out humming. Obviously, the girl hadn't had any difficulty in it. Akira also thought that the test wasn't especially difficult, but not too simple either. _Why doesn't she ever see difficulty in anything?_

When he finished the test, Niizuma Akira took a bus and went straight to Shueisha. Five minutes after he had arrived, he realized that it would have been a good idea to have gone there disguised in case he encountered someone he knew, or worse, his parents. At the reception, he said that he had arranged a meeting with Tohru-san, of the editorial department. After having his interview confirmed, he went to the elevator and pressed the number seven.

However, before the door closed, someone jumped into the elevator screaming "WAIT!" It was a boy of brown hair and eyes, carrying a plastic bag full of papers and a large backpack. When he launched himself into the elevator, he collided with the other guy and knocked him to the ground; both of them fell and strew the papers on the place.

"NO! Now they are out of order! Why did this happen? "The boy wailed as he collected the papers. Akira realized that those papers had beautiful drawings, at the same time complex and delicate. It was impossible not to envy that art. Suddenly, the boy looked at Niizuma, worried.  
"Ahhh, I knocked you down, didn't I? You didn't break anything, right? You won't sue me, right?"

"Huh? No, but be more careful next time, clumsy." Niizuma said slightly annoyed, helping the other to collect the papers. The truth is that he just wanted to look at the drawings. _How can someone so stupid draw so well__?__This is a crime against nature._

__Not long after that, the elevator reached the seventh floor and, to the surprise of Akira, the other went with him into the hallway. Everywhere to look there were posters of characters from the magazine. At their right there was a full-sized image of Harada Ukyuu, the young collector of magical artifacts from the manga _Magnolia_. One of the biggest hits at the current time of Shonen Jump, the manga was done by the couple Niizuma and mixed elements of battle manga with a plot full of mystery and suspense. Ahead there was a poster in which a man in a purple overcoat walked in a deserted street of a big city; it was Omaeda Tsukihiro, the protagonist of _Darkness Gate_, manga of Ashirogi Muto. In the story, Tsukihiro was a con man who one day found a secret organization that had a sinister plan related to a strange gate located in the far north of Europe.

"These shonen mangas seem so dark. They need more feelings." The boy who had just met Akira commented.

"My mother said that Shonen Jump is more consumed by adults now, so the more innocent stories are losing space to the more morally ambiguous ones." Akira said as he headed to the editorial department. Arriving there, men and women walked from one side to another, doing various tasks such as evaluating names, working on the computer, looking for old magazines and talking with aspiring mangaka into their cubicles.

"Gee, who would be Tohru-san?" The brown haired boy asked apprehensively, to Akira's surprise.

"You came to see Tohru-san too? Now?"

"Oh, yes!" The other replied, excitedly, "I called here yesterday for saying that I had found the love of my life, my muse, and needed a job in Jump so she can stay with me. I was asked if I was joking, so I sent an email with some of my drawings. Then I was told that my art looked like shoujo manga and that the plot was nonexistent. So I said I wouldn't give up and would be published in Jump even if I had to draw the story of another person. It was then that Tohru-san told me to come today, at this time, because she had marked with a guy who just had a script and wanted someone to draw it."

The boy abruptly stopped talking and looked at Akira in shock, asking, "Are you my partner?"

"WHAT?" Akira yelled; he could not believe it. _Partners?__This idiot and me?__Ok, his drawings are good, but I can't work with a guy like him!_

__"Hey, you!" A man about 30 years old with tangled red hair, goatee and blue eyes walked up to them, coming from the left side of the department. With a scowl, he asked them: "Are you the kids that Ame is waiting for?"

"It's Tohru-san, Aizawa-san." A woman with curly and long green hair in a white dress walked hurriedly from the right side of the department. "You are Isewa-kun and Aoi-kun, right?" She asked when she got close enough to them. The two boys, who had given false surnames so that no one would know who they were, nodded.

"You always pick the idiots. Impressive." Aizawa growled as he withdrew. Tohru Ame turned to the boys, smiling.

"Pay no attention to him. Can you follow me to my cubicle?" She asked. When the three arrived there and sat down, Tohru-san asked to look at the drawings and the script Takuya and Akira had brought. As she did that, they began to talk to each other.

"So Isewa is your name?" Takuya asked kindly.

"It's not my real name. To avoid headaches, you may be better to just call me Akira."

"Interestingly, this is the name of the editor in chief Hattori." Ame said still looking at the papers.

"Aoi is not my name either. Call me Takuya. But do not call me Tak-tan, I'm reserving that name for my muse. " Takuya said, blushing. Akira could not help but find him a complete idiot. Meanwhile, Ame was reading the script titled _History Agent_.  
_Then Shinji was a History teacher frustrated with his life until one day he received a call from a mysterious woman.__And this woman offered him a job at her agency, where he learns that it's an agency of people who travel in time to ensure that History takes its course without outside interference.__This has potential and time-travel stories are always interesting._

__"I want you two to prepare a manuscript with this script as basis, then I'll know if the drawings of Takuya-kun matches your story, Akira-kun." Ame said.

"So this guy just needs to stay with my script, right?" Akira asked, still uncomfortable with the idea of working with Takuya.

"No!" Takuya protested desperately. "We must work together, preferably in your home as soon as we get out of here."

Akira had no desire to take Takuya to his apartment, but could not find the words to avoid that. Probably because the other gave him a look that said "I will not stop bothering you until you agree."

Thus, Akira took Takuya to his new apartment, which was still crowded with boxes that needed to be emptied. In the living room there was a desk and a small brown sofa on which Takuya lay as soon as he saw it.

"Hey, what is this? We have work to do! "Akira snapped impatiently.

"Errr... There is one thing I must tell you, Akira-kun." Takuya began, hesitantly. "You know, my mom sort of did not allow me back home so... I have to live here with you. Is this okay?"

Akira looked at the other in disbelief; his face completely pale. His cry of rage could be heard throughout the building.

Meanwhile, Ichigo was in Yume's room with her under the pretext of helping her pack. In fact, they were putting the finishing touches on the manuscript of GEO.

"That Aizawa -san we spoke to sounded as a bad person. I hope it was just a wrong first impression." Ichigo said thoughtfully, sitting in the bed. Yume, who was at the desk finishing the manuscript, replied smiling:

"The important thing is that he likes our story."


	7. Moving day and pact between men

OK, the chapter is coming at the last day of the month, but this is still on schedule. I will try to write more quickly from now on. XD

**Chapter 7: Moving day and pact between men**

"So, Yume, can't we change our nickname? We just need to provide our data on the site of Shonen Jump again, and when we are asked for 'pseudonym' we put a new one." Ichigo was trying to persuade Yume to exchange the pen name they had chosen when they marked a meeting in Shueisha. They were talking in low voices, since they were moving into their new apartment and her parents were helping them.

"I said it already. We're not going to play with the words 'dream' and 'strawberry'," Yume stated, unpacking books from a box and putting them on the shelf of the room "don't you think it's weird for them to give the option of using pseudonyms? We provided our data even before talking to the editor."

"It seems that this is becoming common practice in manga magazines lately. You only need to provide truthful information to the site, which has an Internet search software that searches about criminal record, old jobs and stuff like that. After going through this process we can arrange a meeting with an editor. Sure, there are people who still call directly to Shueisha, but they must do the registration on the site anyway." Ichigo explained, whispering.

"That's so impersonal." Yume said a little disappointed. Currently the magazine was very different from what her father had told her in her childhood.

Meanwhile, Saiko and Shuujin were trying to push a table through the front door of the apartment.

"Shuujin, we really shouldn't do this kind of thing, you know?" Moritaka complained.

"But you said that if we left the moving process with the girls, they'd end up being deceived by a dishonest company, and that therefore we should do it ourselves!" Shuujin said.

"Maybe I was being overprotective. Miho, why did you let me do this?" Moritaka asked his wife, who, along with Kaya, was outside the apartment waiting for the two men to be able to push the table into the place.

"Your concern towards Yume was so lovely that I didn't dare to say anything." Miho said, smiling.

"Lovely? You think so?" Saiko asked, blushing.

"These two look like they are still teenagers," Akito said, "the girls are inside the apartment, maybe we should ask them to pull the table from inside."

"I have a better idea!" Kaya said. She turned and knocked on the door of the apartment which was in front of Ichigo's and Yume's one.

"Kaya-chan, what are you doing? It's seven in the morning!" Akito stated, worried.

"I'll just ask for help from a neighbor. Hi hi hi." Kaya replied with a mischievous laugh. 

Then the door was opened and the neighbor appeared with disheveled hair and was wearing pajamas, he had obviously just gotten out of bed.

"Oh, it's you, Akira-kun? I didn't remember that you had moved to this building, hi hi." Kaya laughed.

_Takagi-san on my door?__I'm still dreaming?_ Akira wondered.

"Kaya-chan, don't tell me that you planned all this to make him their neighbor!" Shuujin was in shock.

"Do not accuse me of it, Akito-san. It was fate that wanted them to be neighbors, which is a nice surprise, since he can take care of the girls." Kaya said with a smile on her lips.

"And I thought I was overprotective." Moritaka said.

As if understanding the situation suddenly Akira came out of his apartment and saw the parents of Ichigo and Yume pushing a table stuck in a door. He approached the entrance of the apartment and shouted:

"TAKAGI!"

Thirty seconds later, Ichigo appeared on the other side of the door.

"Niizuma? What are you doing here?"

"I ask you this, stalker!"

Meanwhile, Takuya was sleeping on the couch in Akira's living room. It was then that he heard a voice that took him from the world of dreams abruptly.

"Ichigo! Akira! Stop arguing!"

_That voice...__my muse is here!_

Takuya stood up and walked quickly to outside the apartment, probably not remembering the fact that he slept in his underwear. He passed by the four adults who looked shocked and pushed Akira (which was still discussing with Ichigo) out of the way. On the other side of the door (and of the table that was stuck on the door) Yume looked at him in complete shock, in contrast with the look of adoration that Takuya had for her.

"It's the crazy guy from the cafeteria. Why is he here?" Yume asked almost inaudibly and nervously.

"You mean the one that made you give up on Todai?" Ichigo asked in low voice.

"Mashiro knows this idiot?" Akira said blankly.

"Of course she knows me!" Takuya stated in excitement, "She is the muse that makes me walk the paths of hell in search of my dream!"

Everyone present there looked dumbfounded at the boy.

"Hey, Shuujin," Saiko spoke, nervously, a vein was jumping in his forehead, "why is this pervert calling my daughter 'muse?'"

"Are they a couple?" Kaya asked.

"But Yume does not seem happy to see him." Miho noted.

"Everybody quiet!" Akira shouted, turning to Takuya, "So that muse you keep talking about and who was responsible for you to come into my life is Mashiro?"

"Yes," Takuya said, smiling, "it seems a twist of fate... when I move into the apartment of my co-worker I find out that the reason for I have started the new job lives in the apartment in front... as if asking me to run into her arms."

"What is this guy saying?" Yume asked in panic.

" Yume," Ichigo said, trying to contain a fit of laughter, "I never imagined that one day you would be the center of a love triangle, ha ha ha."

"What does that mean?" Yume asked in shock.

"Love Triangle? Your daughter is popular with the boys, Saiko." Akito joked.

"I won't accept it, I can't allow this pervert to be neighbor of my sweet and innocent daughter! Shuujin, beat him up!"

"You're her father, Saiko! You beat him up!"

"I can't hurt my hands, I have to draw manga, remember? You have to do it, Shuujin!"

"But I'm not a violent person, Saiko! Kaya-chan, can you beat the pervert up, please?"

Without warning, Akira punched Takuya hardly, causing him to fall unconscious on the floor.

"Akira-kun, you did it for my daughter?" Saiko asked, perplexed.

"No. I did this because this guy annoys me." Akira replied, containing his anger. 

Hours later, Takuya awoke on the couch with a severe headache.

"I had a dream that was so beautiful; I dreamed that my heroine was here." He said.

"It wasn't a dream. Takagi and Mashiro are really living in the apartment across the hall." Akira, who was drinking a cup of coffee in a chair near the sofa, said, "And I still did help to put that table into the apartment, unbelievable! By the way, I had to promise to Mashiro's father that I would keep you under control."

"My beloved's father doesn't like me? I have to work hard to make him change his mind!" Takuya said with conviction.

Akira looked at the other guy with a thoughtful expression. After a moment, he decided to speak.

"Listen, Takuya. I'll tell you exactly what Mashiro asked me to say: 'I'm sorry, but I'm already in love with someone else.'"

Takuya's face deathly paled.

"Is this really true?"

"She went with Takagi to Shueisha to deliver their manuscript, you can talk to her better when she returns."

"Do you know anything about this 'someone else,' Akira-san?" Takuya asked, trembling. Akira sighed and answered at length.

"His name is Yamada Kouji, he studied with us. He's intelligent, looks good and wants to be an animator. He made a promise with Mashiro, that he'd animate the anime of her manga. And when that happens, Mashiro will tell him that she loves him. He doesn't know about her feelings and she doesn't know if he loves her back." Akira narrated.

"Got it," Takuya said, after a minute, "Then this Yama-baka is my rival."

"You better give up, Takuya, I say this is for your own good."

"I can't give up, Akira-san! I never felt something so strong for someone before. You know... I was always called a good-for-nothing... I never dedicated myself to school or a job because I wanted to find the love of my life and because of that everyone call me crazy or fool. But I never cared to it until Mashiro-san said that to me. When I think about it, I feel motivated, I feel that I can do anything. And I want that one day she looks at me and see something other than good-for-nothing Hiramaru that nobody takes seriously. I want to be worthy of her. I like her too much." Takuya opened his heart to Akira.

_This idiot really likes Mashiro.__ I'm starting to feel like cheering for him._

"Your only chance then is to make Mashiro fall in love with you before her and Takagi's manga gains an anime. So she will not confess to Yamada and will stay with you." Akira adviced.

"But how do I do it?" Takuya asked.

"I had already decided to write a manga that surpasses theirs. This will show that we are equal to them. The first step is to make the best manuscript possible to be published and make it into the best manga this country has ever seen!" Akira stated.

Takuya studied him for a moment, then asking a question.

"Akira-san, Mashiro-san's friend with whom you were discussing before, Takagi-san, do you like her? Is that why you want to write a manga better than theirs?"

Akira took a big gulp of coffee while musing the answer for that question. Something in his heart told him that he needed to let those feelings flow and Takuya, despite being stupid, was reliable.

"I've always been inferior to her at everything. No matter how much I tried, she was always several steps ahead of me. When she looks at me I wonder what she thinks about me. Does she think that I'm pathetic? Does she see something good in me? I don't want her to know that she dominates my thoughts since I can remember. I want her to see me as someone strong. Someone as strong as she is. And when we become equal, I want to be with her forever. So I bet that if my manga overcame hers, she would marry me. And she accepted. Maybe she's annoyingly confident or... or maybe..." Akira could not finish the sentence. His hands trembled slightly. There was a coffee pot on the table between the chair and the sofa. Takuya stood up, took a cup in the kitchen, returned to the sofa and filled the cup with coffee. He then lifted his cup and said:

"This is a pact between men, Akira-san. We will create the best manga that Japan has ever seen. I will make Mashiro-san falls in love with me before her manga gains an anime, so she will not confess to Yama-baka and will stay with me."

Akira smiled slightly and raised his cup too.

"We will make a manga that exceeds theirs, then Takagi will recognize me as an equal and we're going to get married."

Meanwhile, in Shueisha, Ichigo and Yume were in a meeting with the editor Aizawa. The man examined the pages of GEO's manuscript carefully.

"So, Tashida Hina-san," The man started.

"You can call us Ichigo-san and Yume-san, our real names." Yume said, nervously.

_Depending on what he says, I think I will pass an e-mail to Yamada-kun today_.

"How do I say this, Ichigo-san and Yume-san?" Aizawa continued, "This manuscript is absolutely horrible."

It was as if the world had collapsed on those two girls.


	8. Festival and Pizza Hut

**Ok, it took me too long to post, but my vacations are coming.****Please, leave reviews.****: D**

**Chapter 8: Festival and Pizza Hut**

"You said... absolutely horrible?" Yume managed to ask after a few seconds. Her voice had almost no life and pallor invaded the girl's face. Ichigo was not too good either. She was slightly trembling with nervousness.

"Yes." Aizawa confirmed. "Firstly, the drawings do not match even a little the story. They are too realistic and work better with a darker and more adult manga. They look like the drawings of Ashirogi Muto-sensei a bit."

___Ashirogi Muto?__Damn!__I tried so hard to draw as differently as possible!_ Yume thought bitterly.

"I can change my style!" Mashiro said. "I'll try harder to create my own style, a style that matches Ichigo's story!"

"It is normal for new mangakas to take time to define a style. Yours is not that similar to Ashirogi's to be an impediment for you to become mangaka. The real problem lies in the story." Aizawa explained, bored.

"What is the problem of my story?" Ichigo asked, apprehensively.

"The background is interesting in itself: a post-apocalyptic planet Earth and a conflict between two races are great. However, the characters are bad! The protagonist is the daughter of a man from the surface and a woman from the underground city, but had to live with her father because of the racism of the townspeople. This girl is too happy and smiling for someone in this situation!" The editor pointed.

"But Ikki is a charismatic heroine!" Ichigo defended herself. "Of course she suffers from the absence of her mother and the discrimination that people from the surface receive, but she is not bitter or vengeful. Ikki is opposed to the idea of a war against the people of the underground city, but she wants to change the system, to reconcile the two races and find her mother! Enemies will appear to face her and stop her, so she has to get stronger and gain allies, and never give up."

"You really do not understand the problem, do you?" Aizawa was already annoyed." Charismatic protagonists and classic battle mangas no longer work at Jump! The readers want stories that are dark and realistic, with morally ambiguous characters. Even the legendary Niizuma Eiji had to adapt himself to the new times, working more in partnership with his wife."

"Aizawa-san," Yume protested, "if I change my style and Ichigo make these changes in the story, our manga will look like a work of Ashirogi Muto!"

"So what? Ashirogi Muto has been successful for many years. There is already a large and loyal audience for this type of story. The best way to make success in Jump in the current days is to follow this line." Aizawa replied dryly.

By this time, Yume's blood was already boiling.

"Sorry, Aizawa-san, but we had already decided to write a battle manga!" Mashiro said.

"It's true." Ichigo agreed. "The classic battle mangas were our favorites. We don't want to write anything different!"

"Are you stupid or what? BATTLE MANGAS DO NOT MAKE SUCCESS ANYMORE! I am the editor! You have to do what I say!" Aizawa shouted angrily.

"I thought that a manga just needed to be interesting to be published in Jump." Yume said. "We can make an interesting battle manga, something much better than GEO. The next manga we bring will be so well made that you won't be able to say that it won't be a success!"

The atmosphere was heavy for a few minutes. Nobody said anything for a while.

"Six months from now will start the Shounen Jump's International Festival of manga. Do you know the event?" Aizawa asked, coldly.

"It's a contest in which mangakas from the whole world send their works to Jump. It happens in every four years and the winners usually gain series in the magazine." Ichigo replied.

"The Shounen Jump's International Festival of manga is the biggest comic book competition in the world. It's made a pre-selection of the best works among the participating countries in order to choose 100 competing stories. Then a board of editors of Jump magazines selects the top ten stories to be published in issues. The three most voted ones will be discussed at the meeting to choose new series. Young Japanese mangakas are not encouraged to attend the Festival. Not because there is some specific rule about it, but because they have no chance of defeating professional artists from the entire world." Aizawa explained.

"Do you want us to participate in the Festival?" Ichigo asked, terrified.

"The inscriptions begin in six months, the fee is two thousand yen. The first selection lasts four months, the second lasts two months and then the ten finalists are published in the issues, one per week, which accounts for about two months. The meeting of new series taking into account the outcome of the Festival is held one week later. If you are so sure that you can create an interesting battle manga that will be a success then my condition to published it is: your manga have to be one of three finalists and be approved at the meeting to gain a series." Aizawa concluded with an evil grin.

"Wait a minute..." Ichigo spoke faintly. "Thousands of manga are sent and only 100 are selected in the first phase... then, only 10 are published in the issues... and only three go to the meeting... I can't even count our chances, the competition is absurdly huge."

"It takes more than one year to learn the result of the Festival, it is too much time. And the works are evaluated by a board of editors from all the Jumps, their criteria is something else to worry about." Yume was thinking aloud.

"If you are afraid, you should give up on this stupid idea to make a battle manga and do what I say. I can turn you into the next Ashirogi Muto. It is better to give up now, since you don't have any chance to even pass the first phase." Aizawa adviced with malice.

Ichigo and Yume looked at each other for a moment. They did not need to exchange words to know what choice they had to make.

"Or we do a manga the way you want and become the new Ashirogi Muto or we win the Festival to publish our battle manga. That's it, Aizawa-san?" Ichigo asked sternly.

"Exactly. The right choice is obvious, isn't it?" Aizawa asked.

"In fact, it's obvious." Yume replied, smiling defiantly. "We have six months to literally create the best manga in the world."

Aizawa could not believe in what he had just heard. The shock was so great that he lost his speech.

"We will do our best, Aizawa-san. Thanks for having talked to us." Ichigo said, rising and bowing.

"Our battle manga will be so great that everyone will be awestruck." Yume said, also getting up and bowing.

"This card at the table has your email. We'll take it to keep in contact, okay? "Ichigo asked, taking the card.

"Have a nice day, Aizawa-san." Yume said before the two girls left.

Five minutes after they had left, Aizawa finally regained his speech.

"What just happened? Who do those brats think they are? When they're beaten in the competition, those idiots will learn to respect me!"

Later, in the subway, the real dimension of the choice to participate in the Festival hit the two girls.

"What were we thinking? This is crazy! We have no chance!" Ichigo began to despair.

"I know it's crazy, but what could we have done? That jerk didn't give us another choice! If we had refused it, he would had won!" Yume stated.

"Our chances are ridiculous and our editor wants our defeat. If we gave him a bad manga, he would say that the manga is good for us to be disqualified immediately!" Ichigo pointed.

"I know, Ichigo. We can't rely on Aizawa-san. And we can't ask our parents to help us. We can only rely on ourselves." Yume concluded, worried.

"Six months to create the best manga in the world or succeed in the shadows of our parents. It is quite a gamble. Even if we win, we will only have a manga in more than a year from now. Niizuma will debut first in Jump." Ichigo said, thoughtfully.

Yume took her cell phone in her purse and began to write a message.

"What are you doing, Yume?"

"I'll send an e-mail to Yamada-kun, explaining that we will participate in the Festival and that our manga will only be published in more than a year from now." Mashiro said. Ichigo smiled after hearing that.

"What is it, Ichigo?" Yume asked, after sending the email.

"I like your optimism. It is better to think positively."

The two returned to their building and Kouji had not responded to Yume's e-mail yet. In the hallway, they heard an argument coming from the apartment of Niizuma.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, TAKUYA? DRAW SHINJI MORE MANLY!"

"But Shinji is a disillusioned History teacher, he doesn't need be manly."

"I told you to draw my manga more like a shounen! The features are too delicate! Why is Shinji facing Luce so much?"

"The delicate features let their feelings show up better. And Shinji is contemplating Luce because she changed his life by offering the job of History Agent. It is the beginning of a deep feeling that will evolve into love!"

"Who said they will be a couple, Takuya?"

"They have a tsundere relationship and establish a deep understanding of each other. In addition, Luce's personality is similar to Takagi-san's, so I thought-"

"D-don't jump to conclusions, damn it! I am the writer of this story!"

"And I am the one who draws it. No offense, but I understand the characters better than you do."

"But I created these characters!"

"What an intense discussion." Ichigo laughed, as she turned the key in the door. At that moment, an email arrived in Yume's cell phone.

"IT'S YAMADA-KUN!" Mashiro yelled when she looked at the phone. The noise inside Niizuma's apartment ceased immediately.

"Read the e-mail already, Yume!" Ichigo said.

"What if he wrote that he will not wait for our manga? What if he no longer wants to keep that promise? What if-?"

"Enough with the 'what ifs,' Yume! You challenged a Jump editor today, be confident!"

Yume opened the e-mail and began to read the message. Her face went pale.

"What did he write?" Ichigo asked, curious.

"'Do you want to go to the Pizza Hut near our old school at ten o'clock tonight?'" Yume said as if she was hypnotized.

"I don't feel like eating pizza, Yume." Ichigo answered. Yume, still in shock, showed the e-mail to her friend. Ichigo could not believe in what was written in it.

"Yamada has called you to go out tonight? YOU WILL HAVE A DATE? THIS IS INCREDIBLE!"

"What do I reply?" Yume was having a panic attack.

"I replied it already." Ichigo said, smiling.

"WHAT?" Mashiro almost had a heart attack.

"I wrote 'I would love to go. See you at the Pizza Hut at ten o'clock at night. Kisses!"

"'KISSES!' YOU WROTE 'KISSES?' YAMADA-KUN WILL THINK I LIKE HIM!"

"But you like him."

"I can't go! I don't know what to talk to him! What if he doesn't like me? I have no clothes for a date!"

"You'll go to Pizza Hut, not to an opera! I'll help you, don't panic!"

"Okay I'll be ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok."

"Don't say too many 'ok,' Yume."

In Niizuma's apartment, the two boys heard the conversation of the girls in the hallway, behind the door.

"You will no longer work on the manuscript tonight, will you?" Akira asked.

"No. Tonight I'm going to the war."


	9. Sadness and joy

I know it took me too long to write this chapter. I've been having some personal problems. I hope you forgive me.

**Chapter 9: Sadness and joy**

After hours of searching in the wardrobe and trying not to have a panic attack, Mashiro finally found among Ichigo's things a beautiful sleeveless light blue dress. After bathing, dressing and applying makeup (which Yume couldn't do alone, because her hands were trembling too much and she didn't understand a lot about makeup), Mashiro was almost ready for the date.

"Okay, Yume, let's train a bit before you go. I'll pretend I'm Yamada-kun." Ichigo said excitedly, sitting on a bench near the kitchen counter. "Mashiro-san, you look lovely tonight."

Yume simply stood in the middle of the living room watching her friend playing Kouji, felling chills.

"I'm not going to do this, Ichigo. I better cancel the date." The girl with black hair said, terrified.

"Yume!" Ichigo had already lost her patience. "If you don't stop this idiocy now, I swear I'll beat you."

___Ichigo is very strong, if she beats me I might need a doctor._ Thinking this, Mashiro faked enthusiasm and said that she was ready for the date.

"Great. Think positive and try to act normally, he will like you. While you're out, I'll work on the script of our new manga." Takagi said confidently.

Meanwhile, in the apartment across the hall, Takuya was finishing getting ready to go out. Akira was trying to help him, but it was't working.

"Takuya, for the last time, TAKE THIS BLAZER OFF AND PUT NORMAL CLOTHES ON!"

"Akira-san, I can't do that! It's my first date with Mashiro-san. It has to be memorable and special. Also, you never heard that clothes make the man?"

"Why do you have to say everything as if you were daydreaming? This is very annoying, you know? In addition, you won't have a date with Mashiro, you'll ruin her date!"

Takuya looked dismayed at Akira before defending himself.

"This is a battle in the name of love! Everything I do has a noble purpose! I have to show to Mashiro-san that I am the perfect man for her." Hiramaru said excitedly. Akira put his hand over his face as he analyzed the situation.

"What exactly is your plan, Takuya?"

"I'll tell her what's in my heart."

"Your plan is horrible!"

"You're so mean, Akira-san!" Takuya said disappointed. "You don't need plans when you have... love."

"Stop making these dramatic pauses while talking, it's ridiculous!" Akira complained.

"You're not helping me at all, Akira-san! I am out of here!"

Takuya left the place the minute Yume was leaving her apartment. Akira and Ichigo were at their respective doors.

Seeing Takuya so well dressed made Yume blush slightly. _Hiramaru-san is really very handsome._ Soon after, she began to feel bad. _Did he get sad when Akira told him that I liked someone else?__I should have told him myself, but he was passed out and I needed to go to Shueisha.__But it's so weird, why does he like me?_

Takuya looked at her heroine in a state of deep worship. _She is so beautiful...__but she's going to meet Yama-baka.__I hate him!_

Without realizing it, Hiramaru had his face invaded by an expression of anger as he clenched his fists. That terrified Yume.

_He looks angry!__He must hate me now!__I better do something!_

To everyone's surprise, Mashiro bowed apologetically and began to speak.

"Hiramaru-san, I'm sorry for not talking to you directly. I know it was very rude on my part and I apologize for that. I completely understand you to be angry at me. Sorry if I hurt you." She apologized humbly. Stunned, Takuya didn't know what to do.

"M-Mashiro-san... I-I never, ever, would be angry at you!" He stammered. Mashiro straightened her posture and looked at him confused. Takuya grinned at her.

"Don't worry about me, Mashiro-san. Please don't feel bad. You did nothing wrong."

_He is so gentle.__I think I had a wrong first impression of Hiramaru-san.__ Could it be that__ even after I've rejected him, he still likes me?__And if this is true, then is he only pretending that everything is okay so I don't feel bad?_

"Yume, if you don't rush, you'll be late for the date in Pizza Hut." Takagi warned, wondering about the strange atmosphere involving Yume and Takuya.

"That's right! Sorry, I gotta go." Yume apologized and walked away.

"Oh, Mashiro-san, I have to go to that side as well. Can I join you?" Takuya asked timidly. Yume stopped walking and felt a pang when she turned around and saw Takuya's smile. The boy immediately noticed her unhappy expression.

"I'm so dumb; I have to go to a different side of the town tonight and I didn't remember." He lied, forcing a smile.

"We can go together until the entrance of the building, then." Yume proposed. They walked in silence and, reaching the entrance, they said good-bye and went in different directions.

Hiramaru walked down the street without thinking where he was going. His mind was empty and he felt like falling into an abyss. Perhaps it was because he didn't know many people or because most people he knew didn't like him, but his feet led him to a place where he knew he could find comfort.

"Yuri-tan, you can let me answer the door." Hiramaru Kazuya said. He was in pajamas (brown, decorated with otters) at that time, and his wife was in a white nightgown. Kazuya and Yuriko hadn't changed much since they got married. She was still stunningly beautiful, though she had now some signs of age. Her hair was a little longer, going until her shoulder. Kazuya didn't have dark circles under the eyes anymore, which he said it was the effect of a happy marriage, but he got a few wrinkles; despite that, he nearly had the same appearance he had before.

"Tak-chan! You've come to visit us?" Hiramaru asked, then he realized there was something wrong with his child. Takuya was oddly well dressed, but his face was pale and smeared with tears. In addition, the boy seemed to have difficulty in breathing. Yuriko came to see what was happening.

"Takuya, what's wrong with you? Why are you crying?" She questioned worried, pulling her son into the apartment and leading him to the couch. Takuya seemed to be in a trance.

"I always thought that love was the most wonderful thing in the world..." The boy murmured among sobs. "I never thought it could hurt! Why does it hurt so much, Mom?"

Kazuya and Yuriko looked at each other. They have always known that Takuya was a dreamer who idealized love since he was a child, what could make him suffer in the future. They tried many things to make him become more realistic, including forcing him to get a job and be independent (well, who really did it was Yuriko, since Kazuya had the habit of pampering his child all the time), but nothing worked. When Takuya called saying that he had fallen in love with a mangaka and therefore would become one too, it was impossible for them not to worry. Now their son was crying, sitting on the couch, because of his first heartbreak.

"Oh, son, I know it hurts when a woman rejects you. I was rejected almost my entire life. It's so sad..." Hiramaru tried to comfort Takuya, but became depressed about his own story instead.

"Takuya, what happened?" Yuriko asked.

"She saw my drawings and said that I had talent and that it was a waste not to draw for a magazine, so I felt like a tornado ran through me. I wanted to become someone better for her," Takuya started to tell his story, when he talked about his muse, his expression became soft and a smile appeared on his lips, which didn't go unnoticed by his parents, "she's amazing. She's so strong and determined, and also dreamy and hard worker, there's nothing in her that I dislike. She's already in love with other guy, so she apologized to me. I had already decided I would fight for her, but... she was so sad," Takuya's eyes became filled with tears and his voice began to crack, "she was sorry for hurting my feelings. I tried to cheer her up, but she ended up getting sadder. It hurt me so bad... I don't want to make her sad... I don't want her to suffer, ever!"

Yuriko and Kazuya embraced their son, who wept convulsively. Then, Aoki told him:

"Love is not always as beautiful as in the mangas. It makes us suffer sometimes, but that's not bad. This pain is part of life and in your case it has an even greater importance. If you can cry so much because she's sad it means that you really love her."

"I already knew I truly loved her, Mom, but what should I do?" Takuya asked, trying to stop crying.

"Be honest with her. Tell her what's in your heart. And don't give up on fighting for her. If she is the right person for you, then she will see the wonderful boy you are, Takuya, and she may fall in love with you."

"That's right, Tak-chan!" Kazuya also spoke, he was crying at that point. "Fight for your love!"

Wiping away the tears, Takuya made his decision.

"Thanks, Mom, Dad. I'll do it right now!"

Meanwhile, in Pizza Hut, Yume had met Kouji and they were already in a table. Kouji, who was wearing jeans and a green shirt, was talking enthusiastically about a scholarship that he had gotten in Toei Animation, but Yume couldn't pay attention.

"Mashiro-san, are you okay? You seem to be sad." Yamada was worried.

"It's just a thing about my work, sorry if I concerned you." Yume apologized, trying to force a smile. The truth was that she was worried about Takuya.

"You had mentioned in the e-mail that your manga would take a year to be published. It is quite brave to enter this competition; you and Takagi-san are very courageous and confident." Kouji praised. Yume, however, could only feel sadder, remembering what had happened in Shueisha.

_This is my first date with the guy of my dreams; I should be in a better mood or at least pretend to be._

"Sorry for taking so long to have a manga, Yamada-kun. But it's going to be a great piece." She tried to sound confident.

"Don't worry about it; I'll still take a while to become an animator." Kouji said, smiling. However, he was feeling disturbed by the visible lack of enthusiasm in Yume.

Minutes later, a waiter came to their table.

"Excuse me, are you Mashiro-san?" The man asked politely.

"Yes," Yume replied.

"There's a young man outside, wearing a blazer; he described you and said that he needed to talk to you urgently."

Kouji studied the change in Yume's expression. First she was very surprised, then she became anxious, yet there was something in her eyes that bothered Yamada. It was a kind of glow that he could only see when she looked at him, and he hadn't seen that glow that night until the present moment.

"Sorry, Yamada-kun, I'll be right back," she said, leaving the table. When she went outside and saw Takuya standing in front of the place, Yume soon realized that he had been crying, but, at that moment, Hiramaru had a strong and determined look.

"Mashiro-san," he began to speak, bringing up all his courage, "I'm sorry for having made you sad, but you need to know something. I am in love with you and I can't change that. I love you too much and I will fight for you. I know you're not in love with me, but please, let me fight for you."

Yume's eyes were wide.

"Why?" She managed to ask. "I don't understand! I'm not very pretty, I'm kind of clumsy and I panic at times and I'm not very feminine either. Also, I was kind of mean to you when we met! How can you be in love with me? How can you say you love me?"

"Even when you think you are mean, you help people, Mashiro-san." Takuya replied firmly. "I find you amazing and I could spend all night talking about everything I like about you."

"But I'm not in love with you, Takuya. I'm sorry, but I'll never-"

"DON'T SAY 'NEVER!'" Takuya yelled, startling the girl. "You can't predict the future, you don't know if your heart will change or not. If until when your manga gains an anime you haven't fallen in love with me, I won't bother you anymore. But until then, please, let me try. You can treat me just as your friend, I won't demand anything from you, but let me fight for you."

Yume began to cry after hearing that.

"You are really silly. Almost like a Shounen Hero. No matter what I say, you won't give up, will you?"

"Of course I'm not giving up." Takuya stated.

"I can't continue the date after hearing all this; I need to apologize to Yamada-kun." Mashiro said, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. When she entered in Pizza Hut, however, she was told that Kouji received an urgent call from work and had to go. She didn't understand why he left the place by the back door, but gave no importance to the fact.

Mashiro and Hiramaru walked back to their building. At that moment, Yume was no longer sad. She knew that it was pointless to try to stop Takuya and it would only hurt him more; then she decided to try to treat him as a friend, for now. Her decision made Takuya smile.


	10. Lessons and the night sky

Thank you for the understanding. :D

**Chapter 10: Lessons and the night sky**

**Ten years before.**

Young Kouji was coming back from school, he was happy because one of his friends had lent him a blue-ray of Dr. Enma, the current hit animated show based on one of Ashirogi Muto's mangas. When he entered his small apartment he heard a discussion coming from the living room, which didn't surprise him.

_Mom and Dad are arguing again._

"Zenjirou, we can't live like this anymore! We barely have the money to buy food!"

"Aka-chan, be a little more patient! There hasn't been any work lately!"

"That's because nobody wants to entrust an anime to your bankrupt studio!"

"Don't talk like that about Magic Leaf! We just need a hit anime. Something from Jump!"

"As if anyone in Jump would do business with you! You have to sell the studio, there's no other choice!"

"The studio is my life! Animation is my life! I rather die than selling Magic Leaf!"

"Your family is supposed to be the most important thing in your life, Zenjirou! You've always been a negligent husband and father! If you don't sell your studio and get a new job, I'm going to take Kouji and leave you!"

"You think I don't know the truth? You're having an affair with that banker! You're leaving me so you can run into that rich guy's arms!"

"Can you blame me? He cares for me! He loves me! Different from you who only thinks about yourself! I LOVE HIM MORE THAN YOU!"

"YOU'RE MY WIFE! YOU SHOULD BE WITH ME FOREVER! HOW CAN YOU FALL FOR SOMEONE ELSE?"

**Present.**

Kouji was alone, lying on the couch in his cramped apartment, filled with boxes he never bothered to empty ever since he moved to the place. He had lied to escape from the Pizza Hut. He had observed Mashiro and the strange boy through the glass door of the place. That hurt him greatly, even though he couldn't explain why. Anxiety and fear took him over as he remembered what he had seen.

_Who is that guy? Why did she go outside for him?_

At the same time, Mashiro and Hiramaru had stopped at a grocery store to buy something to eat, since both of them were starving. They bought a big chocolate ice cream bucket, opened it and began to eat it without stopping walking.

"How is your manga, Mashiro-san?" Takuya tried to break the silence.

"Ichigo and I are going to participate in the International Festival of Manga, competing with authors from the entire world. She's trying to come up with a story and I have to make my drawing style the most different possible of my father's." Yume replied without joy. Suddenly, Takuya (who was carrying the bucket) sat on the sidewalk and took a small black notebook and a pen from his blazer's pocket.

_Does he carry those things all the time?_ Yume wondered.

"Mashiro-san, can you show me how you draw? You can draw some old character you and Takagi-san had created." He said, shyly. Yume sat at his side, took the pen and the notebook and drew the heroine of GEO.

_What's the point in this? He probably won't complain of whatever I draw._

After she finished, she showed the drawing to the boy, who asked her to tell the character's story.

"Ikki is a miner girl who lives in the gelid surface of a post-apocalyptic world. Her father is from the surface and her mother from the underground city. She suffers discrimination and wants to bring justice to the world. However, she's not bitter or anything like that."

Takuya studied the drawing seriously, then he said:

"I don't feel empathy for Ikki."

Mashiro wasn't expecting such an honest opinion.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I see a smiling girl, but I don't feel her emotions. You could draw bigger eyes; it's a good way to make the emotions more visible. Pay attention to the details. If she works in a mine, she should be covered in dust. If she suffers so much and cares for others, it's possible that she fakes her smiles and acts tough so nobody will be worried about her. In that case you could make her eyebrows a bit contracted or make her fists tremble and clench once in a while. It would be good not to put too many details if you're going to draw her a lot. Thinner lines would make the facial expressions softer and even subtle feelings could be put on her face. Also, thin lines work better with movement… ehr, am I saying too much?" Hiramaru asked, suddenly embarrassed. Yume was looking at him in complete shock.

_This guy… is freaking knowledgeable._

"Mashiro-san… I haven't offended you or anything, right?" Takuya asked, nervously.

"Takuya, teach me." She said, decided.

"Eh? W-what d-did y-you-?" He stuttered; his face was totally red.

"You understand a lot more than me about drawing manga, please teach me!"

"I-it's not as if I-I've studied it o-or anything… I mean… I just try to understand the story and the characters the best I can… and let the f-feelings flow… it's nothing special, really." Takuya was so nervous that he thought his heart could escape from his chest. Yume was looking at him with admiration and respect; he also could see fire and excitement in her eyes. She was at the same time beautiful and intimidating.

"If I can observe you more, I can learn a lot. I will draw my manga as passionately as you. I must learn how to show the characters' hearts without using words. In fact, now that I think about what you said, a realistic drawing would never fit Ichigo's stories. Our ideal shonen battle manga needs light and fluid drawings."

Yume smiled as she talked and Hiramaru felt that he didn't have other choice than doing what she was asking. By seeing her smile, he seriously thought he could have a heart attack and die at any moment. And he was happy to feel that way. For hours, they stayed at the sidewalk and Takuya taught Yume the best way he could.

Meanwhile, Ichigo was having a writer's block and couldn't come up with anything.

_Global appeal… the world's best manga… how can I write such a thing?_

She tried to get inspiration by researching best-seller books, watching movies and reading mangas, but she couldn't think on an original story. The pressure was killing her. She decided she needed some air, so she went to the apartment's balcony and took a look at the stars in the sky.

"Such a beautiful night, I wonder how Yume's date is. I bet I can identify the constellations."

Without noticing at first, she remembered a very old show based on a Jump manga. Its name was Saint Seiya, also known as Knights of the Zodiac. It was one of those classic stories that everybody had seen at least once in a lifetime. Not that the story was particularly good, in fact the plot was somewhat repetitive and the characters weren't too deep when compared, for example, to the ones in One Piece. Despite all that, the show had been a success.

"The Zodiac is interesting and the whole world knows it." She joked in low voice. Then, the realization hit her.

The Zodiac!

"Wait, wait! I don't believe in Zodiac, I shouldn't write about it! Besides, Greek Mythology is something that many authors have already used!" Ichigo was positive that it had been a bad idea.

However, her brain wouldn't let it go.

_I could base myself in another thing instead of Mythology. Maybe ancient Philosophy, like Plato's. I could use the Cave's Myth, The Republic…_

She tried to forget that again, forcing herself to believe it was silly. But then she had an idea that she couldn't just ignore. That idea made her turn on a computer and begin to research desperately, as she wrote on many papers whatever was coming to her mind about characters, scenario and plot.

At 3:00 o'clock in the morning, Takuya and Yume returned to the building, chatting a lot. When they were in front of their doors, the girl thanked the other.

"I appreciate your advices, Takuya. I think I'll be able to draw a lot better from now on… also, I liked to spend time with you."

Takuya was so deeply happy that he couldn't even reply.

"Good night." Yume said before entering her apartment. Somehow, Takuya managed to enter his apartment either, despite his state. He found a little note on the desk he was using to draw during the past days. It was from Akira and said:

_Our editor called and said that she will submit our work on the next serialization meeting, this weekend. Work hard and quickly._

Despite his tiredness, Takuya grabbed his pen and began to work. Drawing manga was part of his battle for love, and that night he was feeling especially hopeful.

When Yume saw Ichigo working frenetically, writing down ideas and making research, she asked what her friend was doing. Ichigo gave the other a piece of paper with a line written on it.

"The World of the Ideas." Yume read, confused. "What is this?"

Ichigo smiled widely and looked at her friend with confidence.

"This is the provisory title of the best manga in the world."


	11. Debut and Arrogance

Chapter of this month, enjoy. :)

**Chapter 11: Debut and Arrogance**

Takuya was reading his Bessatsu Margaret magazine while enjoying a cup of tea, sitting on the sofa. Akira was looking at him as if wondering what would be a good way to kill the guy.

"Akira-san, you seem to be so tense. What is bugging you?" Takuya asked softly.

"What's bugging me?" Akira tried his hardest not to shout. "I don't know, maybe, just maybe, it has to do with something that will happen today. You DO know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Of course I know, Akira-san. It's the release of the final volume of 'Limpid Lake.'"

"What…?" Niizuma was so shocked at the reply that didn't have the energy to yell.

"'Limpid Lake' is one of my favorite shoujos. It's so beautiful, sweet and romantic-"

"THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? TODAY WE'LL KNOW THE RESULTS OF THE SERIALIZATION MEETING! HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPIDILY STUPID?"

Takuya looked at Akira a bit surprised. "That's right, it's today."

"I'm so going to have your brain analyzed one of these days! Why aren't you nervous at all, damn it?"

"Well, I suppose I grew so used to fail at everything that I no longer have the ability to have high hopes." Hiramaru answered, embarrassed.

"THEN YOU THINK WE'RE GOING TO FAIL?"

"No. Mashiro-san said that I had talent… I believe in her." Takuya said, blushing.

Niizuma's phone began to ring.

"OMG! IT'S OUR EDITOR!" Akira shouted, handing the phone to Hiramaru. "I CAN'T TALK TO HER, I'M WAY TOO NERVOUS, YOU'LL DO IT!"

"Hello, Tohru-san. How have you been?"

"ASK HER ABOUT THE MEETING, YOU DUMBASS!"

"Yes, Tohru-san, it's Akira-san shouting, he's nervous. Uhm? Really? They really said that? So you're coming here? Okay, thank you."

Akira, at that moment, was standing at the other's front, shaking. Takuya smiled widely and told him "'History Agent' will begin in issue 12."

Akira's yell could be heard by the whole building.

In Ichigo's and Yume's apartment, the two girls, who were working in their manga, were distracted by the noisy coming from across the hall.

"Who would guess Akira would debut before us?" Yume commented as she tried to draw an old army uniform. Ichigo just smiled. _I_ _can't wait to compete with him in Jump._

"You know, Ichigo? The zodiac idea totally rocks. Saint Seiya was one of my favorite mangas."

"Eh? You liked that?"

"Don't look down on that classic, Ichigo!"

Suddenly, the door was opened and Niizuma entered the place without being invited. He stood in front of Ichigo proudly.

"It looks like that, for the first time, you'll be the one who's going to run to try to catch me, Takagi." He said, unable to hide his happiness.

"Just you wait, Niizuma. When our manga debuts, yours won't stand a chance." Takagi replied defiantly.

"Your arrogance never ceases to amuse me." Akira stated even more arrogantly.

Both of them were smiling.

_Seriously, why don't these two start dating already?_ Yume was wondering.

Half an hour later, Ame knocked on her mangakas' door. She gave them a big fruits basket and explained all what she had to about the serialization and the contract. She also informed that Takuya's drawings had a huge impact on the decision of the meeting.

"Everybody was amazed by your drawing style. It evolved a lot, Takuya-kun. Instead of being too shoujo, now it fits the story perfectly. Your text is far impressive too, Akira-kun."

_But she was clearly more impressed by the drawings_. Akira thought, disappointed.

"By the way, I've gotten only one assistant, she must be on her way." Ame informed.

"EHH?" Both guys shouted.

"This is bad, what if Mashiro-san gets the wrong idea by seeing me working with a girl?" Takuya asked, worriedly.

"SO NOW YOU'RE WORRIED?" Akira, this time, couldn't stop himself from hitting his partner at the head. Then, he turned to Ame: "Why didn't this girl come with you? Why did we get only one assistant?"

"She had to solve something in her old job. Times are tough nowadays, we barely have young people wanting to become mangakas, what to say about becoming assistants?" Ame replied.

_The so-called "manga crisis," huh? I wonder against how many mangakas we were competing._ Niizuma thought.

Someone knocked on the door. Takuya opened and there was a blond young woman with short curly hair, around 21 years old, wearing blue snickers, green pants and a red T-shirt, standing there. Her eyes were brown and filled with energy.

"Good-morning, Isewa-sensei, Hiramaru-sensei!" She greeted, happily, shaking Takuya's hand vigorously. He let go of it after a few seconds, grabbed her gently by the shoulder and said, in a dead serious tone of voice:

"I've already found the love of my life, so please don't fall for me, okay?"

"IDIOT!" Akira shouted, grabbing Takuya by the hair "What the hell do you think you're saying? Are you trying to scare the assistant?"

"Okay, I understand it." The young woman replied, smiling, for Akira's shock. "By the way, my name is Saotome Rumi."

Takuya paled after hearing that. "Saotome Rumi-sensei… author of 'Limpid Lake?'"

"WHAT?" Akira was now pretty shocked too. _A shoujo mangaka is our assistant? What the… WHAT THE…?_

"Well," she replied, scratching her head, "I wanted to become a mangaka since I was little. I created a shonen battle manga once to submit to Jump, but they said it had way too much gore. HA HA HA!" Rumi said, laughing wildly.

"She said… gore?" At that point, Akira was asking himself if he was hallucinating. "Wasn't she a shoujo mangaka?"

"Ha Ha, you're talking about that 'Limpid Lake' nonsense? I just made that to prove that I couldn't draw anything good if it wasn't battle manga. But for some reason a lot of people enjoyed that silly romantic story. Can you believe it? HA HA HA HA!"

"I feel so humiliated right now in so many ways." Takuya whispered, as if he had lost his life energy due to the woman's rude manners.

"Well, summing it up," Ame said, feeling sorry for Takuya, "Saotome-san wanted to learn more about shounen manga, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to assist two young shounen mangakas. Please, give it your best and work hard."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Akira whispered to himself.

For the next months, the three of them tried their best to work together. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Yume finally finished their oneshot to the Festival and gave it to their editor, who had come to their apartment. As Aizawa read it, his jaw dropped.

_How could these girls progress so much? The script is dense, the characters are psychologically well-developed and have their own ideologies, even the villains are dubious. The art has improved a lot, either. If it weren't for this charismatic heroine, it could be a fabulous dark manga._

"How much are you willing to change in this oneshot?" Aizawa questioned.

"Anything, but not the heroine." Ichigo replied, dryly. Aizawa stared at the girl with anger.

"For how long are you going to insist in this idiocy? The plot has great potential and the zodiac theme can attract a large public; don't waste it by putting a charismatic heroine in it!"

"Aizawa-san, what do you think of our heroine?" Yume questioned.

"She has a positive attitude and doesn't lose the courage, no matter what happens. People are not like that! This may impress children, but adults want to recognize themselves in the characters! This heroine has nothing special, has no depth, she's plain!"

"Are you really seeing our heroine? Take a better look at her?" Yume almost shouted.

"So you're assuming that all the adults are negative people who can't smile, be brave, care for their friends or be noble in any sense?" Ichigo asked Aizawa, coldly. "If that's what an adult is supposed to be, then we'll never grow up."

"How naive are you? The world crushes silly people like you! You also believe in fighting for your dreams and that kind of stupidity? Do as I say and you'll be successful!" Aizawa mocked them.

"If adults didn't fight for their dreams, I wouldn't be here now!" Yume shouted, deeply offended. "Ichigo and I studied a lot and put all of our efforts into this piece! We even tried to put some of your suggestions into it. The plot and the art are great, aren't they? Our heroine is not plain, I can assure you that. If you bothered to pay attention to her, you'd notice it! You're just criticizing our heroine because you're a cynical and arrogant person!"

Aizawa clenched his fists. "Okay, then. Submit it as it is if you have such confidence in your heroine and your idealism. But you're going to be defeated by the cynical and arrogant people you despise so much! When that happens, you'll beg me for my advices. There's no other way than that."

"Of course there is!" Ichigo replied, fiercely.

"We just need to win!" Yume stated with confidence.


	12. Impressions and the History Agent

Our beloved Bakuman is ending, but it will be forever in our hearts. ;_;

BTW, thanks for the reviews. XD

**Chapter 12: Impressions and the History Agent**

A little before Ichigo and Yume showed their oneshot to Aizawa, issue 13 of Shonen Jump was released. It had on the cover a young adult man wearing glasses, standing in front of a cylindrical machine. The text on the cover said _**"An outstanding adventure through time! New series 'History Agent' by the authors Isewa Makoto and Hiramaru Takuya."**_

"OHH! Hiramaru-sensei is on the cover! Takuya? Is his son a mangaka? VOOOISH, so cool!" Niizuma Eiji yelled in excitement when his editor gave him the new issue, after a meeting in the mangaka's apartment.

"We don't know a lot about him, but everybody is on a fuss about it. Isn't Aiko-sensei around?"

"Aiko-sensei went on a travel to promote her new book. I'm all by myself." Eiji replied briefly.

"Don't you feel lonely? Why don't you go visit your son?"

Eiji didn't answer for a while, beginning to read the magazine, after a few seconds, he replied: "I'd like to go visit Akira-chan… but I don't think he'd like it if I did so."

_**Akari Shinji was a young History teacher who lacked motivation There were two reasons for that: first of all, his students weren't actually well-behaved or studious. Second, Shinji had been always in his father's shadow, the great genius archeologist Akari Gen.**_

"This new manga is interesting, Saiko. It has a father/son conflict and the art is impressive!" Shuujin told Saiko at their studio, while the dark-haired man was drawing.

"It was time for a good rookie to show up, Jump can't survive just with old mangakas like us." Mashiro replied thoughtfully.

"Uhmm…"

"What?"

"There's a young woman following the main character… she kind of looks like my daughter."

Two minutes of silence.

"Let me see it." Mashiro asked; after he saw the image, Saiko commented: "There's a resemblance, but it may be just us imagining things. Who is the author?"

"I've only recognized one name: Hiramaru. Apparently it's Hiramaru-sensei's son."

"Who would imagine Hiramaru-sensei's son would draw this well? It must be Aoki-sensei's genes! Hey, Shuujin, has this Takuya-kun ever met Ichigo-chan?"

"I don't think so. Y-you can't be imagining that my daughter and Hiramaru-sensei's son…" Takagi shivered in shock.

"It's possible, but it could be just a coincidence or perhaps Akira-kun is the writer of this piece and made some wedding promise with Ichigo-chan."

Half of a minute of silence later, they both began to laugh.

"Akira-kun? Be serious, Saiko! That boy has hated manga since I can remember. Besides, he has just as much pride as his mother. He would never make a wedding promise with Ichigo-chan!"

"Ha ha ha, that's right, Shuujin! Our kids are way more focused on reality than we-" Suddenly, Saiko remembered something Yume had told him.

"_I have this dream there isn't long… or maybe I had it for a long time but never realized. I can't tell you details yet, sorry. I was planning on hiding it from you until it became true. I'd move to an apartment with Ichigo and, while we studied for college, we would work in our dream too."_

"What is it, Saiko? You got so serious suddenly."

"I just had a really crazy thought now… never mind it, it's better for us to go back to work!"

_**In a cafeteria, Shinji met the mysterious woman.**_

"_**I'm Arkana Luce, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Akari-sensei."**_

"_**Why the hell did you send me that letter? I already have a job, you know?"**_

"_**Are you really happy with your current job? Don't you want to achieve more in life? You can do great things."**_

"_**Don't give this stupid speech! I bet you're one of those people who are great at everything and never fails! I can't stand people like you!"**_

"Wow! Ichigo, the heroine is just like you!" Yume said, amazed. Takuya and the new assistant, Saotome Rumi, had gone to visit the girls right after they bought a magazine. Rumi wanted to be friends with the female mangakas and was warmly welcomed. Takuya wanted to hear their opinions, especially Yume's.

"So, isn't Niizuma coming too?" Ichigo questioned a little hurt. _Doesn't he want to hear my opinion?_

"Akira-san wanted to go on a walk. I think he's on the park nearby." Hiramaru informed. He was trembling in anticipation for Yume's opinion. She smiled widely at him and said.

"Your art is even more beautiful than usual. It will be an honor to compete with you in Shonen Jump."

Takuya thought of hundreds of cool things to say in order to show how much those words meant to him. As he thought of them at the same time, what he could express was: "Immm… your… ahhh… THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

Mashiro blushed slightly. _He truly is sweet._

"Can I call you Yume-tan?"

"No way."

"Okay."

"You know what, guys?" Rumi spoke suddenly, excited. "Wait until later chapters when famous historic battles will show up and you'll see the whole glory of members being decapitated in front of you."

Ichigo and Yume looked dumbfounded at the other girl. Takuya shivered when he tried to imagine what Rumi was talking about. _We are so not going to do that!_

"_**Your father and mine created this time machine to better investigate History. However they were betrayed by their friend, Kumagawa. He killed my father and exiled yours somewhere in History."**_

"_**It has nothing to do with me!"**_

"_**Of course it has! This is your father's work" It's your legacy!"**_

"It's rare to see you read manga, Yamada-kun." Yamamoto, one of the anime directors who worked at the studio where Kouji had gotten a job as an assistant, commented when he found the young man reading the new Shonen Jump magazine during the lunch break.

"Mashiro-san emailed me about the debut of a friend of ours. I'm reading his piece out of curiosity."

"Is it good?"

"I guess so."

"This Mashiro-san is the mangaka girl you always talk about, right? What is your relationship with her exactly?" Yamamoto asked cheerfully. Kouji stared at the man seriously for a couple of minutes before replying.

"I'd say Mashiro-san is my bridge. I need her more than anything in the world."

"_**You understand nothing about me, you stupid woman! You know nothing about my father! I don't have any reason to look for him!"**_

"_**I know that he really loved you."**_

"Yuri-tan, this is so exciting! Our son has so much talent! I'm so proud!" Hiramaru said with great enthusiasm, while gesticulating on the couch, holding the magazine. Aoki was working at a desk.

"It makes me happy to see Takuya-chan working hard like this… say, Kazu-tan, when is your manga coming back from the hiatus?"

Hiramaru pretended to sleep and didn't reply.

"_**That stupid father never cared for me, even for a single moment! He just cared about his work and his adventures! I seriously don't feel like going to his rescue, but…"**_

Akira was sitting at the park's bench, looking up to the sky. He heard someone approaching him and turned around. Niizuma Eiji, carrying a Shonen Jump magazine, was standing there.

There was a heavy atmosphere between father and son. Neither of them smiled.

"I was going to your apartment, Akira-chan."

"Why?" Akira questioned without joy.

"You're always so serious, just like your mother." Eiji smiled weakly after saying that.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Akira inquired.

"Yes. It's a very important thing in fact."

"… _**I'll help you out by becoming a History Agent and prove that I can surpass that stupid father I have!"**_

_**To surpass his father, to help this woman, to prove his value… will Shinji achieve his goals? Next issue: center color and special 25 pages.**_


	13. Father and son

**Takuya:** Akira-san, Bakuman ended and you're the only uncannon character in this fanfic!

**Akira:** How can you say that? I don't recall seeing you, Takagi or Mashiro being born in Bakuman!

**Yume:** But my parents ended up together, they even received their own color page and finished the story!

**Ichigo:** My parents were the first cannon couple and had plans in having me. Don't you remember the PCP copycat arc? What about the New Year's travel chapter?

**Takuya:** My parents were the cutest couple ever made. You're the only one whose parents weren't confirmed as a couple, Akira-san, that's so sad!

**Yume:** So disgraceful!

**Ichigo:** So hilarious!

**Akira:** Shut up, the three of you! It was an opened end, they totally could get together!

**Rumi:** Or a fire could have killed everybody.

**Akira:** Who the hell called Rumi here? Let's just begin the chapter. It's going to be a great one because it focuses on me.

**Ichigo:** The story will focus on us, the protagonists, next chapter, you just wait, Niizuma!

**Akira:** I'm looking forward to it, Takagi!

**Chapter 13: Father and son**

"There's a new series in Jump called History Agent, I was reading it earlier." Eiji began the conversation. "It's very interesting and made me think about some things."

"You came all the way here just to talk about a manga?" Akira replied, bothered, wondering if his father was suspecting of the truth. The older man was giving his son an enigmatic smile, as if cautiously pondering what to say.

"Your mother is out of town and I was lonely, so I came to see you."

By hearing that, Akira felt as if his insides were being burned by anger. _He was lonely and suddenly remembered he had a son? What stupid excuse is this? Mom used to travel out of town since I was little and this guy never paid attention to me because of that! How many times did I ask him to play with me and he refused saying he had to draw manga? How many times did I try to talk to him and he began to draw manga battles on every piece of paper he could find? My whole life I watched this man giving all his affection to fictional characters and now he says he was lonely and wanted to see me?_

"So, Akira-chan, as I was saying, this new manga-"

"SHUT UP!" Akira couldn't keep the scream inside of him any longer. His childhood memories were haunting him at this point and it was a miracle that he hadn't begun to cry yet. Eiji seemed to be surprised by seeing his son so agitated.

"All you care about is manga; all you talk about is manga! Manga! Manga! Manga! Nobody is able to catch your interest unless he or she is related to manga somehow! It's as if you live in a world apart and only mangakas are allowed there. I don't need to go there. I don't need anything from you and nothing I ever did in my life had you as inspiration or objective!"

This time, Akira couldn't avoid letting the tears fall. He covered his mouth with his right hand and lowered his head, staring at the grass. He didn't have the intention of saying those things; he should just have kept a poker face and let his father talk his usual nonsense. But to hear that man saying such a monstrous lie that implied that he missed his son's company and then to hear the word _manga_ coming from those lips again… it was too much. Did Niizuma Eiji somehow notice that the manga he was talking about was written by his son? And if this was true, could it be that now he acknowledged Akira? Eiji was acknowledging him and giving him the honor to talk to him because of a manga? No, that was too low. Akira was just doing that for Ichigo. He never wanted his father's approval.

If Niizuma Eiji had gone all the way there to say something like "you're a mangaka like me now, you accepted my world, so you deserve my love from this moment on," the humiliation would kill Akira.

"You have the right to hate me as much as you want, Akira-chan." Eiji finally spoke again. "I know that I'm not a model father, and that's because-"

"Don't you dare say 'manga!'" Akira almost shouted.

"Actually, I was going to say 'because nobody ever taught me how to be one.'" Eiji concluded, sadly.

_What is he talking about?_ Akira wondered.

"Until I was 15 and won that prize, my parents weren't pleased with me." The father restarted his narration. "I was different from the other children, so neither my classmates nor my teachers liked me. When I confessed to a girl for the first time, she laughed at me and told me really mean things… when I realized it, everybody was laughing at me."

Akira saw in his father's eyes a bitterness that he had never seen before, which scared him.

"Whenever I told my parents about what my classmates did to me, they said I was the one in fault because I was a strange child and I should behave better. There were times when they thought I was sleeping and talked about how expensive it was to raise me and if I ever would be someone useful in the future… someone who could get a job and live without their help."

By that time, Eiji was holding his knees fiercely.

"You should have seen how everything changed when I got that prize. My parents were so happy with that money that they even praised me… when I was asked to work in Jump, they incentived me and told me they were proud. And Yujiro-san and everybody in Jump was so happy to have me working for them. Nobody called me weird anymore; I was a genius. For the first time I was being acknowledged as a talented person and I was so happy… so deeply happy."

"Your relationship with Grandfather and Grandmother changed for the better after you became a mangaka?" Akira questioned coldly, not crying anymore.

"Since I moved to Tokyo, I never visited them. I just sent them money until they died. They used to travel around the world and buy many expensive things."

"What are you trying to tell me exactly?" Akira was becoming impatient.

"Well, I became very arrogant since I became a mangaka, but thanks to Ashirogi-sensei I didn't lose myself completely. For the first time I had friends, and they were my rivals too. I owe so much to them. Then I met your mother; I was amazed by her talent at first, but then our relationship became solely and unpleasantly boring. We were just work partners and she wouldn't hear to anything I had to say. Only by the time of our second serialization she told me all the things that she hated about me, after drinking four glasses of wine. It was shocking to hear all that and, maybe because I had drunk too much in frustration of being on the bottom five of the TOCs for the very first time, I also told her terrible things. I don't remember what happened after that, but the next morning the two of us woke up in my bed and we were nak-"

"DON'T FINISH THIS SENTENCE! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR HOW THIS SENTENCE ENDS!" Akira covered both his ears and had a massive blush on his face. It was impossible for Eiji not to laugh at the scene.

"Your face is just like your mom's that time! VOIIIIISH!"

"Don't laugh at me! What kind of indecent thing were you going to tell me, you pervert excuse for a father?"

"Your face is getting even redder; I love how much you resemble Aiko-sensei! YASH!"

"What?" Akira asked, perplexed. Eiji was now standing on the bench, moving his arms agitatedly.

"Why are you surprised? It's just natural for a man to love someone who resembles the woman of his life, and if this someone is his son it makes the man even happier. I've always been happy to have you as my son. I'm glad you don't resemble myself so much, it could be hard to love someone like myself."

"What the hell are you saying?" Akira was now angrily standing up on the bench to be in his father's eye-level. "You never showed any interest in me! Why are you bothering to lie to me?"

"I've never lied to you, Akira-chan. I've always been proud of you and I've always loved you with all my heart."

"THEN WHY HAVEN'T YOU EVER TOLD ME THAT? WHY DID YOU LET ME THINK YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ME?" Akira began to cry in frustration. _What does he mean with all this? I don't understand. How much does he need to step on my heart? What's his problem?_

Eiji, without warning, hugged his son tightly, for Akira's deepest shock.

"Maybe I got used to think that normally people wouldn't enjoy my company unless they're interested in manga, and since you were a little kid you said that you hated manga. But I trusted in your intelligence, Akira-chan. You were always serious, hard-working, dedicated, smart, kind, shy, passionate, responsible and proud. Who would be able to not love you? How could you think I wouldn't love you?"

The boy's eyes widened after hearing that; more tears were falling and his body began to tremble.

"You should know that I'm not good with people. I'm way better with manga. I'm sorry for making you feel that way, Akira-chan, but I'm glad that you're finally being honest with me."

Reluctantly at first, Akira found the courage to return the hug, while murmuring "stupid father" among sobs. After he calmed down and they both sat on the bench again, the boy decided to tell Eiji everything.

"About that manga called History Agent, Isewa Makoto-"

"Shhhhhh!" Eiji made his son shut up. "Don't spoil me anything, Akira-chan! I like this story very much! The drawings are beautiful and the plot amuses me, they go together so nicely I bet the authors are best friends! I want to see this story becomes greater and how this mangaka will amuse me even more. I bet it's going to be a great adventure, TZAUNNNNN!"

"What about the main character? What do you think about him?"

"I love people like him and I hope he reconnects with his father someday."

Eiji couldn't see it, but Akira smiled widely after hearing that.

"I hope so, too."

**Okay, the chapter is a little small, but I couldn't put more things in it. I just felt it should end like this. The plot will move faster next chapter, I promise you. Thank you for reviewing, sorry for making you wait and, if possible, please review this chapter. :D**


	14. The long battle

Got reviews, I'm so happy, thank you so much. ^O^

**Chapter 14: The long battle**

September 13th, Shueisha's editorial department:

"Isewa-sensei and Hiramaru-sensei finished chapter 23 of History Agent." Tohru Ame said, smiling, as she handled the package to Chief Hattori Akira. "I find it so amusing that you and Isewa-kun share the same first name. Damn, I wasn't supposed to reveal his real name."

"Ha ha ha, Akira is a very common name; don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Hattori replied cheerfully. At that time, Aizawa went to the Chief's desk with a similar package.

"I thought you had already given me the chapter from your authors, Aizawa-san. Things are going to get crazy from today on because of the Festival." Hattori commented, taking the package from his subordinate's hands and reading the name Tashida Hina on it.

"Actually, Hattori-san, I'm submitting this chapter for the Festival of Manga." Aizawa explained without emotion. Both Hattori and Ame were perplexed.

"It has been a while since a Japanese author submitted a piece to this event. Why didn't you dissuade Tashida-san?" The Chief-Editor asked.

"To tell the truth, I made those girls participate in this event. They're too young and arrogant and don't want to listen to me; a good shock of reality will open their eyes." Aizawa replied in a proud tone of voice, which made Ame feel sick.

"You can do whatever you want if you believe it'll help your authors. But I must admit that seeing a due of young mangakas stubbornly defying their editor makes me feel nostalgic… and I haven't even met them yet, ha ha ha." Hattori-san said.

"You shouldn't be so sure that your authors will fail, Aizawa-san." Ame advised the man. "Women are tough and competent beings."

"Let's have this conversation in six months." Aizawa replied arrogantly.

It was already night when Ichigo and Yume got in their apartment, after giving their oneshot to their editor.

"I'm so tired! I can't believe I have to prepare a paper for my class." Ichigo protested, heading to her room and jumping into her bed.

"Well, you'll have more time to do that now. I wonder what I'm going to do in the next six months that will help me with my drawings." Yume said, following her friend and sitting on her bed.

"That's easy, you can work as the boys' assistant for a while." Ichigo suggested.

"Yeah, you might be right." Yume picked her smartphone from her pocket. "I think I'll e-mail Yamada-kun and tell him that we've already submitted our story for the festival."

"Don't forget to add one of those kiss emoticons at the end of the message." Ichigo teased.

"I'm not going to do that!" Yume blushed as she typed. Two minutes later, Kouji's reply arrived.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh."

"Yume, what the hell is this noisy you're making?" Ichigo inquired, looking at her friend's embarrassed face.

"Y-Y-Yamada-kun said that he's sure our manga will be a hit." She stuttered, blushing.

"You're so innocent, Yume." Ichigo mocked. "You should go talk to Niizuma and Hiramaru about working as their assistant for six months. Oh, if they cooked something for diner, bring some food to me."

Meanwhile, in the boys' apartment, Rumi was leaving for her other job: she was assisting a Young Jump mangaka during the night.

"Is it me or Rumi passes a lot of make up before she goes to that guy's house?" Akira questioned Takuya after the girl left.

"Nobody is free from falling in love. Whenever a girl is way too concerned about her looks, it's because someone stole her heart." Takuya replied philosophically, as he prepared their dinner (instantaneous lamen).

"Has any girl ever gotten pretty for you?" Akira asked, grabbing an apple that was on the kitchen's table and eating it.

"Some girls did… but then they found out my personality and didn't want to be closer to me anymore." Takuya said that a bit sad.

Someone knocked on the door and Akira went to see who it was, mumbling "Did that weird girl forget something?" while Takuya waited for the hot water to cook the lamen, sitting on a chair. He closed his eyes and let his head rest on one hand. He was very tired.

"For me it's okay, and I'm sure he'll agree. You can come tomorrow night." _Is Akira-san talking to Saotome-san?_

"But I should ask him directly." _This beautiful voice… my heroine… this is a dream._

"There's no need for it. And since you'll keep an eye on him during the nights, I could spend some time with Takagi and study." _Akira-san must miss his heroine too._

Takuya was at the moment in his dream land walking in a garden filled with white flowers. _What a nice place_, he thought, when suddenly he heard Akira's voice again.

"Wake up, Takuya!"

"Huh? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Takuya woke up screaming. His head was aching and he realized that Akira had hit him.

"Akira-san, what are you doing? Where is my lamen, by the way?"

"Takagi was hungry, so I gave your lamen to Mashiro to deliver to her." Niizuma replied blushing. "Oh, Mashiro wants to work as your assistant for a while, I said it was okay. She'll start tomorrow night."

Takuya paled deeply after hearing that. He didn't emit any sound and had just a shocked expression on his face.

"Did you hear me, Tak-" Akira was getting a bit worried, but his friend suddenly yelled in ecstasy.

"SHE'S COMING HERE TO WORK WITH ME? OH MY… OH MY! MASHIRO-SAN… YUME-TAN… WITH ME… WORKING… I CAN'T BREATHE… HELP ME, AKIRA-SAN, I CAN'T BREATHE!" Takuya had jumped from his seat and rushed to the door, grabbing his olive jacket on the way. "I NEED CANDLES AND CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRIES AND SUGAR AND TEA, A LOT OF TEA, ALL TYPES OF TEAS, AND FLOWERS AND CAKE AND KITTIES! I NEED KITTIES! WHERE CAN I FIND KITTIES AT THIS TIME?"

Niizuma grabbed the other by his shoulders and pressed him against the closed door.

"Get yourself together, damn it! Why are you nervous? You talk to her every day!"

"But… but…" Takuya was now trembling and almost crying. "I have to make everything perfect, I can't mess this up. I don't want her to think that I'm an idiot and… and then think how much better Yama-baka is."

"She won't think you're an idiot, you idiot!" Akira almost shouted. "If you haven't noticed, Mashiro is the person who respects you the most! Besides, you've known each other for six months; it's too late for you to try to change your personality!"

Hiramaru calmed down a little after hearing that.

"Thank you, Akira-san."

"If you really want to make her look at you with admiration, draw like you never did before. She loves your talent." Niizuma stated with a confident beam. Takuya blinked, amazed.

"You're so kind, Akira-san. Sometimes I forget that because of your tsundere personality."

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING 'TSUNDERE,' STUPID?"

"I need to buy some ink, bye!" Hiramaru ran away from his friend's flustered fury. Since he had left the apartment, he decided to really buy ink. Little did he know that someone else was in the store: a person, who had only seen him once outside Pizza Hut and, despite the fact that Takuya didn't know his face, was his sworn enemy.

_It's him._ Yamada Kouji thought in countered anger. He had gone buy a new pen for Yume as a show of support and appreciation. However, he was now holding the object so tightly that it could easily break.

"Say, O-san." Takuya approached the salesman on the balcony, smiling. "Do you give a discount on ink for young mangakas from Shounen Jump?"

"You work in Jump?" The middle-aged bearded man questioned in surprise.

"Yes. I'm Hiramaru Takuya, I'm the responsible for the art in History Agent."

"Really? That series is great. Do you have many assistants?" The salesman asked, interested.

"I had only one, but now… I-I mean, from tomorrow on… y-you see, there's this wonderful girl who lives in the apartment in front of mine… I knew her before we were neighbors, actually… I-I mean… she's the source of my happiness and motivation… and she's going to assist me…" Takuya was blushing wildly. The man laughed.

"I understand, I was young once too. I'll give you the discount on the ink and a pink eraser too, so you can give your girl a gift."

"T-thank you v-very much!" Takuya's stutters got worse after the man said "your girl." Takuya left the store happily and was waiting for the traffic light to change when he felt someone standing behind him. Hiramaru turned around and saw a young man stretching his arm in his direction, as if he was about to push him on the road. The other's left hand was stained by an ink as black as his eyes, which were partially covered by the stranger's bright gray hair.

"Do I know you?" Takuya asked softly. As if awaking from a trance, the other replied:

"Do you have a tissue? I broke the pen I had just bought." The gray-haired one said without emotion.

"Yes. I'm clumsy too, so I carry tissues with me all the time. I'm Hiramaru Takuya, what's your name?" Takuya picked a tissue from his jacket's pocket and gave it to the other.

"You can call me Zenjirou." The other answered, smiling. His eyes were semi-opened.

"Nice to meet you, Zenjirou-san. I hope we can become friends." Takuya wished cheerfully.

"I know a place where we can buy a delicious coffee. Do you want to come with me? It's a way to pay for the tissue." Kouji was talking politely, making sure to smile serenely. "I want to know more about you, Takuya-san. I have a feeling we're going to be very close to each other."

Takuya found the other's manners odd, but was happy to accept the invitation; it was rare for him to make new friends. After they drank their coffees and talked for one hour (actually, Takuya was the one who talked the most, naively giving many details of his life), the two exchanged e-mails and said good-bye to each other. Hiramaru couldn't see it, but Kouji headed for his place with a mischievous smile on the lips.

The next night, Yume was received in the boys' apartment, where she noticed that Takuya, already sitting on his desk, was obviously tired and sleepy.

"That idiot drank too much coffee last night and didn't sleep." Akira informed in a bad mood.

"Akira-san, don't be jealous just because I made a new friend." Takuya said with little energy.

"I'm not jealous, you air-head! I'm going to study in Takagi's place now. It's better that the two of you work hard."

"Akira, you should give Ichigo a present since the two of you are going to have a date. Oh, but then you'd have to buy gifts every day." Mashiro teased Niizuma, who left slamming the door. After that, she sat on the desk next to Takuya's, where she found a pink eraser.

"I-It's a welcome gift." Takuya said, shyly. Mashiro thanked him with a kind smile. Soon, they began their work, which got more pleasurable every night. The night study sessions for both Akira and Ichigo went smoothly, despite the frequent silly arguments they had. Yume emailed Kouji sometimes, but they didn't get to see each other. Takuya went to the coffee place once a week to meet his new friend, who asked him not to bring anyone due to shyness. Akira and Takuya couldn't attend to Jump's New Year party, but promised to go on the next year. The reason was that Yume and Ichigo had achieved to have their oneshot approved as one of the top 100 stories of the Manga Festival (for Aizawa's anger) and commemorated with the boys the whole night in a karaoke club. Takuya spotted Yume sending an e-mail to someone, but he didn't bother about it. It was a moment of happiness for her and he was the person sharing it with her. He'd brag about it to his friend Zenjirou that week in a conversation interrupted by the gray-haired boy sudden sickness, which worried Takuya greatly. The months passed rather quickly. The day of the decision of the 10 finalists arrived.

"The smartphone isn't broken, is it?" Takagi asked anxiously. The two female friends were waiting for their editor's call in their living room.

"You don't think he could hide the information from us, do you?" Yume wondered.

Before Ichigo could reply, the phone rang. At the other side of the line, Aizawa spoke bitterly.

"You passed."

The editor hung up the phone when he heard the girls' overwhelming manifestation of joy.

"He hung up!" Takagi complained.

"WHO CARES? WE ARE SO CLOSE TO OUR DREAM! LET'S TELL THE BOYS!" Mashiro was radiant.

"You're going to e-mail Yamada first, right?" Ichigo asked a little surprised at her friend's lack of memory. Embarrassed, Yume whispered an "oh, you're right" as she e-mailed Kouji. The reply came quickly.

"He said congratulations." Mashiro said happily. Ichigo couldn't avoid analyzing the girl's calm reaction. _In other times, Yume would have reacted with more enthusiasm. _

Their oneshot was the fifth to be published and Aizawa didn't inform them how many votes "The World of the Ideas" got. Neither did he call on the day of the results.

"WE SHOULD SUE HIM! WE SHOULD TOTALLY SUE THAT GUY!" Ichigo was furious. It was past midnight and they had no news. "I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF WE MANAGED TO GET AT LEAST THIRD PLACE, BUT THAT BASTARD WON'T CALL US!"

"I'm checking the official page; the results should be out soon." Yume tried to calm the other, while looked at her smartphone's screen.

"WHEN DID YOU BECOME SUCH A CALM PERSON, DAMN IT?" Ichigo protested.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Yume stuttered.

"Since you became Takuya's assistant your mood has changed greatly. You're a lot more confident and self-centered, not to say happy." Ichigo teased.

"I've made great progress in my technique, of course I'm happy!" Yume replied, slightly annoyed.

Ichigo just stared at her. _Maybe she hasn't realized it yet. Or maybe I'm just imagining things._

"Ichigo…" Yume whispered, her expression was of utter shock. Takagi got scared when she saw tears being formed at her friend's eyes. She took her phone to see the page. Ichigo then let it fall, unconsciously. She was trembling without control. The two girls hugged each other and began to cry aloud. Akira and Takuya, who weren't able to sleep because of the anxiety, rushed to the girls' apartment after they saw the results online.

Meanwhile, in Shueisha, Aizawa gave to the Chief-Editor his letter of resignation. The man's pride was too damaged for him to continue to work in that magazine.

Many internet portals around the world gave the news in headlines:

"**For the first time, Japanese mangakas won the International Festival of Manga. Their story, 'The World of the Ideas,' along with two others from a south-African and a Mexican mangakas, will be serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump."**


	15. Rise and Fall

The story keeps going forward. :)

**Chapter 15: Rise and Fall**

Aizawa was in his apartment that morning, taking a look at the works of a mangaka from his new job, on Weekly Sunday Magazine, when the doorbell was pressed. The man was surprised to see those two girls standing there, waiting for his invitation to enter his place.

"I don't know if I'm more surprised at the fact that you're stalkers who discovered my address or that you waited 5 weeks until come to me and throw at my face your victory." He said in an annoyed tone, leaving the door opened and heading to his kitchen. Yume and Ichigo saw that as an invitation and entered the apartment. They followed him into the kitchen.

"It wasn't hard for me to get a new job, since you two were my last authors and nobody knew about our conflict. You have a weekly manga to draw now and I have work to do. Just brag already and leave."

The two girls bowed and said:

"Thank you, Aizawa-san."

The editor was deeply astonished by what they were doing. Ichigo was the first to lift her head and talk to him while looking at his eyes.

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have invested so much to improve. We don't particularly like your personality, but we thank you for pushing us to excellence and for believing in our talent even if we didn't follow the way you had indicated."

Right after that, Yume did the same.

"Our new editor, Tohru-san, gave us your address, so we could thank you. Despite everything, you're the main reason why we've been in the top 5 since our series began. Thanks to you, we are now mature enough and braver than ever before."

Recovering from the shock, Aizawa took a seat and sighed.

"Don't get infatuated just because you got some good results. The manga industry is no longer as strong as before. Despite your optimistic view of the world, you'll be walking in hell from now on."

"We know that!" Yume stated. "Even if we're in hell, we won't lose ourselves to darkness. We'll keep fighting, dreaming and believing in our work!"

"We'll show everybody how great our manga is." Ichigo added, smiling.

_Those strong defiant eyes. They were clearly born to do battle manga. I was too arrogant to think other way and try to impose my personal taste on them. Damn it, I hate to be wrong._

"Say, Aizawa-san…" Yume began, reluctantly, "did you read our 'The World of The Ideas' since the last meeting we had?"

"I read it every week." Aizawa replied serenely. Both girls were surprised by that. "From there to now, your art and your text have evolved enormously. Your manga has a quality that maybe I wasn't able to see before because of my prejudice. Every time a character is shown, its expression is filled with so much emotion and its speech is so concise that pulls the reader into that world. You've built something highly deep, but that can be understood by many people. It's intriguing and beautiful, and it shouts 'adventure' almost every time. I was so ashamed for not seeing that before that I couldn't keep working in Jump."

"Thank you." They said at the same time, touched.

"I'm glad that I, Aizawa Kenichi, was able to help you to create this piece of art." Aizawa confessed with a bit of pride.

"And we, Takagi Ichigo and Mashiro Yume, are glad that you were our first editor." Yume said.

_Mashiro and Takagi?_ For Aizawa, everything suddenly made sense and he couldn't help but laugh.

"So you two are Ashirogi's… no. You two are terrific mangaka who managed to teach something even for an old guy like me. Good luck from now on, ladies."

"Good luck to you too." Takagi wished.

The night of that day, in the boys' apartment, Ame was having a reunion with them.

"Later I have a reunion with the girls. I scheduled you on the same day because you're neighbors and I can save money with transportation." The editor said, jokingly.

"What was our position this past week?" Takuya asked, casually.

"13th, but you're stable, so there's nothing to worry about." Tohru tried to cheer them up.

"Since their manga debuted, we haven't been on the top 10 even once." Akira commented, resentful.

"You two have a solid based series. You don't need to worry about the position on the TOCs!" Ame affirmed, firmly. "Besides, next week you'll have color pages and the results of the popularity contest, it's a great chance to climb some positions. How is the drawing going, Takuya-kun?"

"Luce was elected the most popular character with a large amount of votes, I'm thinking in letting her alone in one page and five other characters on the other." Takuya informed, proudly.

"I'm sure you'll do something beautiful. Your drawings are always amazing, everybody in the editorial department agrees with me." Ame said kindly. "I'll be taking the chapter of this week and leaving, then."

Takuya said good-bye to her, but Akira remained silent, staring at the floor.

_Shinji stayed in fifth place while Luce got first. _

"Akira-san, what are you planning for the next chapter? The Russian Revolution arc was so exciting." Takuya tried to start a conversation

"So exciting that didn't go to the top 10 even once." The reply was bitter.

"Don't be so down. There are many good mangas now in the magazine."

Instead of making Akira feel better by saying that, Takuya made him angry.

"Are you that stupid, Takuya?" He questioned in a cold and scary manner.

"What?" Takuya asked a little surprised.

"Do you think this doesn't affect you at all? If their manga keeps gaining popularity it'll become an anime in no time. I'm not the only one going down here!"

"Why are you saying these things, Akira-san? We're not going down! We can still catch them!"

"Oh, shut up!" Akira shouted. "I don't want to hear your idiotic babbling! You're just like her, Mr. Perfect Drawings that are never criticized! I can't stand people like you!"

Takuya really got hurt by that comment.

"You're very immature, you know, Akira-san? You just need to surpass Ichigo-san at least once so you can consider yourself victorious, but independently of that, as long as their manga stays popular, they're going to gain an anime. I'm in a worst situation than you are, but I'm not whining!"

Akira, specially pissed off for hearing Takuya lecturing him, replied:

"You're in that situation because you're a pathetic loser! Mashiro worked with you every day for how many months? And despite all the chances you had, has she given up on Yamada? No!"

Takuya, by that moment, was almost crying, but he wouldn't let Akira have the final word.

"Am I a pathetic loser, Akira-san? It's obvious for everybody that you and Ichigo-san love each other! If you wanted, you could go over to her place and ask her to marry you right away and I'm sure she would accept it! You were the one who imposed this stupid gamble to her because of your ego! You may think that you're doing it for love, but the truth is that you just want to prove that you're better than her!"

Akira, trembling in anger, punched Takuya and knocked him down.

"Don't talk as if you understood me, Takuya! Do you think you know me? You know nothing about me, or Takagi or Mashiro! You're just some random idiot who showed up in our lives and complicated everything! YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND A NUISANCE THAT I HAD TO ACCEPT IN MY HOME SO I COULD HAVE MY MANGA!"

Big tears fell from Takuya's eyes as he stood up, took his coat and opened the apartment's door. He stayed there for some minutes, motionless, digesting what he had heard.

"Do you remember that pact that we had made, Akira-san? Was I the only one who took that seriously?"

Takuya's hand was shaking as he held the door. His voice cracked when he added:

"W-was I the o-only one who considered us friends all this time? D-did you always think of me as a n-nuisance that you h-had to deal with so you could win a-against Ichigo-san?"

There was no answer. Akira didn't go after Takuya when he left the place. Niizuma let himself fall on the couch and, without noticing, his eyes were getting wetter. Memories flew in his mind.

_**"This is a pact between men, Akira-san. We will create the best manga that Japan has ever seen. I will make Mashiro-san falls in love with me before her manga gains an anime, so she will not confess to Yama-baka and will stay with me."**_

_**"We will make a manga that exceeds theirs, then Takagi will recognize me as an equal and we're going to get married."**_

_**"Takagi is a genius. She has been successful in everything she has ever tried in her life, without ever failing. She has walked ahead of us since the beginning, it's annoying, I get it. **__**However, have any of you ever thought about how is it for her? Have you ever thought of how hard it is to deal with the pressure of being the best all the time? How it is to live under everybody's high expectations? If you are so frustrated, blame your own lack of competence or guts, don't blame her!"**_

_**Why doesn't she ever see difficulty in anything?**_

_**"It looks like that, for the first time, you'll be the one who's going to run to try to catch me, Takagi."**___

_**"Just you wait, Niizuma. When our manga debuts, yours won't stand a chance."**_

_**She was clearly more impressed by the drawings**__**.**_

_**I bet you're one of those people who are great at everything and never fail! I can't stand people like you!**_

_**"Takagi, is it how it's going to be? Every time I try to catch you, you'll find another thing for me to overcome?"**_

_**"What are you talking about?" **_

_**"That's fine. If you're going to become a mangaka, then I will not lose to you. I'm going to write the most popular manga in Japan!"**_

_**"Really? That's a great gamble, but I don't have any intention to lose to you."**_

_**"Let's make a deal, Takagi, if your manga becomes more popular than mine, I'll do anything you want. But, if my manga surpasses yours... I want you..."**_

_**"What?"**_

_**"… if my manga surpasses yours, I want you to marry me! D-Damn, Takagi, don't laugh at a man's feelings like-"**_

_**"Deal! I agree with your terms!" **_

The overflow of thoughts was too intense for Akira and he began to cry loudly.

_It was pointless since the beginning, wasn't it? I'm not meant to win. I can never win. I'll always be on the shadow and all of them will be forever superior to me. I'll be forever surrounded by geniuses! By perfect and talented people! Who would ever look at me and see something more than an insect? Even if I'm loved by them, what would it change? I would still be this ridiculous pitiful worm trying to reach the skies! Such a sad and pathetic being._

Meanwhile, Takuya was in a coffee shop, sitting on a table by himself. He had called Zenjirou and when the young man arrived, he went to Takuya's table.

"I came right after I finished my work. You're still crying, Takuya-san. What happened?" He asked in an appropriately concerned tone. Takuya, sobbing, narrated what had occurred, while the other listened to everything with great interest. After Hiramaru finished, Kouji showed a sad expression and said:

"How horrible Akira-san must be. He was just using you the whole time."

"I-I t-told him horrible things too… he was under too much stress, m-maybe he didn't mean…"

Hiramaru couldn't conclude his phrase because of his sobs.

"Takuya-san, you're such a sweet and innocent person. I'm sorry to do this, but, as your friend, I must open your eyes."

"W-what?" Takuya asked, looking at the serious face Zenjirou had.

"As a neutral bystander I can clearly see that neither Akira-san nor Yume-san care about you. Both of them just wanted to take advantage of your talent for their own purposes."

Takuya paled deeply after hearing that.

"If you want my opinion, Takuya-san, you should leave all these terrible people behind. Maybe you should move to another city and restart your life. I can even help you with some money-"

"What on Earth are you saying?" Takuya shouted, standing up.

"I'm just saying the truth because I'm worried about you, Takuya-san. You should hear me as your friend. You just don't understand-"

"You're the one who don't understand!" Takuya protested. "Before I met them, I was nobody! Just a lonely weird good-for-nothing guy working on a coffee shop… it was when that fated meeting with my heroine happened… and the fated meeting with my first friend… I gained a direction in my life…

"Fate doesn't exist!" Kouji stated, trying to keep his fury under control. Hiramaru noticed the other's sudden change of mood, but Zenjirou quickly cooled down.

"Takuya-san, you like shoujo manga a lot, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Takuya didn't understand the other's point.

"Imagine that Akira-san and Yume-san, along with Ichigo-san and that Yamada-san you mentioned other day, are characters of the same story. This story began years ago. Ichigo-san and Akira-san would be the tsundere couple who obviously will end up together. Yume-san and Yamada-san would be the couple based on dreams and promises. Do you know what that means?"

Takuya didn't say anything, so Kouji continued.

"It means that, no matter what happens or who appears, they will end up together. The heroine always chooses the hero and someone like you, who appeared from nowhere in the middle of the story, can never stay with the heroine at the end of it. If you believe in fate, then you should see what fate states for her. You should give up on Yume-san."

"A-are you saying that…" Takuya's voice was cracking again, "… Y-Yamabaka is the hero of the story?"

"I work with animation, so I've heard about Yamada Kouji. He's a genius who is rapidly rising in the industry and is feared by his competitors… besides…" Zenjirou made a dramatic pause, giving the impression that he was concerned about Hiramaru's feelings, "… I've heard that Yamada Kouji has made a promise with an aspirant mangaka to animate her manga and, when their dreams turn into reality, he would ask her to marry him."

For Takuya, to hear that was like being stabled in the chest. _Her feelings are mutual. When her manga becomes an anime and she confesses to him… he'll ask her in marriage… her manga is a hit… it won't take long until she gets an anime… and during all the time I had I wasn't able to change her heart…_

Takuya held his head with both hands and breathed among sobs. _There was never hope. I was just fooling myself the whole time. Dreaming about a heroine that already had a hero… a hero who loved her back… I'm such a loser… a pathetic good-for-nothing…_

"You can come to my apartment tonight, Takuya-san, and decide what to do later. But I still advise you to accept that your love battle is lost. Minor characters never are chosen by the heroines. You must find your own path and your own story."

Immerse in despair and unable to know Zenjirou's true feeling behind his worried expression, Takuya shared the same thoughts with the other.

_It is all over now. _


	16. Resolution and Promise

**Chapter 16: Resolution and Promise**

Takuya left the coffee shop with Zenjirou, intending to follow him until his apartment. What the young mangaka should do from that point on was still a mystery for him.

_What am I to them? To her? What's really my role here? If I weren't clumsy and had never spilled that coffee on her, we probably wouldn't have talked properly. She'd sit on a table and make me an order, then I would give the drink to her and each one of us would go on with our lives. We probably wouldn't remember each other's face the next day. She'd work in her manga and I'd work in the shop; even if I ever picked a Jump magazine and saw "The World of the Ideas" on the cover, I wouldn't give it much attention. The same if I saw "The History Agent" drawn by someone else. Those authors would be total strangers to me. One day I would read that the mangaka Mashiro Yume was going to marry the animator Yamada Kouji because of an old promise they had made. The same would go for the mangakas Niizuma Akira and Takagi Ichigo. And that wouldn't affect my life in the littlest. There would be a possibility for me to say "how wonderful, I want a love like that too" and do nothing else. My life would keep passing through me and I'd age, without ever finding my heroine or my direction… and I would be alone forever._

"What is it, Takuya-san? Why did you stop?" Yamada asked, turning around. They both were on a desert street.

"I am so stupid." Hiramaru whispered.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Takuya-san. You'll find your own direction, I'm sure of it." Kouji forced a friendly smile when he said that.

"I've already found my direction a long time ago. I can't just run away now." Takuya said firmly. "I can't throw everything away just because I argued with Akira-san. I've lived with him for over a year, I know how his temper is! I know how insecure he feels sometimes! I should've been more mature!"

"No!" Kouji almost shouted, startling Takuya. "You're just fooling yourself! Niizuma-san just wanted a work partner! Mashiro-san is already in love with someone else! If you go back to them, you'll only find misery!"

"I was in misery before I met them." Takuya said with a sad voice. "I never had friends in my entire life. My parents were the only people who liked me. When I began to read shoujo manga, I began to idealize a heroine for me. I thought that someday I would find a wonderful woman who would love me and accept me, and I would be happy. I wanted that so much that I became obsessed."

"And you're telling me that Mashiro-san is your idealized heroine?"

"She's not idealized. She's brutally real." Takuya had now a small smile on the lips. "Since the first time I met her, I realized that she didn't resemble a shoujo heroine at all. She doesn't have a flawless beauty. She's insecure sometimes and incredibly strong and confident other times. She's caring, sweet, honest, hard-working and brave… and she never played with my feelings. I love her entirely and that won't change. It doesn't matter if she loves another guy and he loves her back, I won't give up on her love. It also doesn't matter how many times Akira-san and I fight, I won't give up on our friendship or our manga. I like to be a mangaka and to be around them. I've been living the happiest time of my life since I met them."

Feeling relieved after opening his heart, Takuya noticed the angered expression on the other guy's face.

"Zenjirou-san?" Hiramaru was afraid. The person he considered a friend was now approaching him, giving him a glare of pure hatred.

"I thought I had you. You were eating in my hand, going along with what I was telling you. I was so close to getting rid of you, you little worm; what did go wrong?"

"I'm not understanding. Did I offend you?" Takuya took a step backwards. Yamada jumped on Takuya, knocking him down. He sat on the other's chest and grabbed Hiramaru's neck with both hands.

"W-What are you d-doing, Zenjirou-san?" Terrified, Takuya was trying to break free of the attacker, without success.

"Zenjirou was my father's name. He owned an animation studio called Magic Leaf. He was once called one of the best animators in Japan. But the business weren't going well and my cursed mother abandoned him to live with a guy who showed up from nowhere. She had married my father, she had promised to be by his side forever and never stop loving him, but that man appeared and destroyed everything."

Takuya was utterly scared. The young man above him had a maniac expression and was strangling him. _This is bad! This is bad!_

"I'll take everything my father lost and I won't let anyone be in my way. You won't steal Mashiro from me. We're going to get married when I animate her manga." Yamada stated coldly. Suddenly Takuya's cell phone rang and made Kouji lose his concentration for a second, enough for the other to feel the grip loosen and punch the assailant. Takuya quickly stood up and ran from there, without looking back. _That guy… what he said… he's…_ However, Kouji wasn't going to run after him. He sat on the ground and looked down, trembling. Neither him understood what had just happened.

In the building where the mangakas lived, Akira had woken up – he had fallen sleep on the couch - and noticed that Takuya hadn't returned. He picked his phone and called him, but didn't get a reply. Worried and feeling guilty, he knocked on the girls' door. Yume opened it.

"Is Takuya in there, by any chance?" Akira asked.

"No. What happened?" Yume, who was feeling sleepy a minute before, was now concerned. Akira avoided eye-contact with her.

"I argued with him and he left; now he doesn't answer the phone."

"Don't you guys argue all the time? What was different?" Yume questioned, but she had an idea of what could have happened.

"Lately, 'The History Agent' has been out of the top 10, hasn't it?" She asked.

"Please, don't say any inspiring thing to cheer me up. I'm seriously not on the mood for that." Akira sighed, sitting on the floor. Yume sat by his side.

"Ichigo was worried about you, but she didn't want to talk to you about it yet because she was afraid you'd lose your temper and say things you didn't really mean. Then you'd sink in a whirlpool of lamentation until feel regret about the things you had said. And you'd want to apologize, but the embarrassment wouldn't let you. She was going to wait until tomorrow to talk to you about it."

_She knows me way too well._ Akira thought, melancholically. "I'm really a difficult person, aren't I?"

"You're over-competitive, paranoid, tsundere-"

"You don't need to explain in detail why I'm difficult!" Akira was getting frustrated.

"But everybody is difficult in some level, even Ichigo. She's not any flawless creature that floats above mankind. If you treat her like that, she'll only get sad. She's not used to fail, that makes her more afraid of failing than any of us. But exactly because she's not used to fail, she fears to show vulnerability to others and that makes it tough to people to relate to her." Yume explained. Akira felt his chest hurt a little after hearing that.

"Is Takagi awake?"

"She's listening to everything from behind this closed door." Yume whispered. Akira stood up and entered the apartment. At that moment, Takuya appeared in the end of the hallway, breathless and frightened.

"Takuya? What happened to you? Are you okay?" Yume ran to him, worried. Without thinking, he hugged her tightly.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you again. I'm so glad. So glad." His voice was breaking. "I'll never be so selfish again! I'll never run away again! I'm so sorry and ashamed!"

"It's okay." Yume said, despite feeling her cheeks getting warm because of that demonstration of affection, and returned the hug. "Akira is sorry for whatever he said to you. Everything is fine."

_No, it's not._ Hiramaru knew that he should tell Yume what had happened, but how could he? It was still a shock for him the realization that the friend he had been seeing for so long was deceiving him and was, in fact, Kouji. It was dangerous to let Yume get close to him. But if he told her the truth, would she believe it? Could she think he was desperately trying to maculate his rival? But if she did believe in Takuya, how would she feel about the truth? Knowing that the man she had been in love with wasn't a charming prince, but an unstable psychotic guy, would break her heart. Telling her the truth was the right thing to do, but Takuya couldn't stand the idea of hurting her feelings. He wanted to protect her more than anything.

"Mashiro-san, I love you." He spoke with conviction. "I'll always take care of you and protect you, even if you don't love me back. But I'll fight for your love forever and I want you to fall in love with me someday."

"Takuya…" Yume didn't understand what was happening to him. Why was he talking to her so seriously? Without any fear or hesitation he was stating his love for her. It was a powerful feeling that she couldn't reject. It was different from everything she had ever experienced. Faced with that great devotion and pure love, she couldn't avoid being scared by it. It wouldn't be possible for her to treat Takuya just like a friend from that point on. It wouldn't be possible to act normally, as if nothing had occurred, anymore. And Takuya should know that.

"It's okay if you don't feel comfortable talking to me anymore. I'll give you space, but I won't stop protecting you. You know me and you know that nobody will love you as much as I do. If there's a chance that your heart changes, please don't let go of me yet."

Mashiro didn't let go, but she didn't say anything either. _What am I feeling now? I don't know. I think I don't recognize myself anymore… what's happening to me?_

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Akira were standing at the balcony, side by side.

"Takagi, you never told me what you wanted if you defeated me." Akira commented. Ichigo thought about joking that he was already accepting his loss, but noticed how serious he was.

"I wanted you to keep the promise you made me the day we first met each other." She spoke with a serene smile.

"I remember that day. How old were we? Four?"

"Yes. You had lost to me in Jokenpo and began to cry."

"I-I didn't cry!"

"You cried and you know it!"

They stayed silent for a moment.

Ichigo began to talk again.

"I told you that it was okay if you hated me. Everybody hated me because I always won and nobody wanted to play with me anymore. Except Yume… she was always more like a sister than a friend to me. However, even she didn't enjoy very much playing with me…"

"I remember that you forced a smile and said that you were used to play by yourself and that almost everybody hated you but you didn't care… that didn't make me happy. I don't recall what happened later."

Ichigo hold his hand gently. Akira looked at her face and saw small tears appearing in her eyes.

"You told me that you'd practice every day until you were as good as me. Then you'd defeat me and be more hated by the other children than me… but even after that you would keep playing with me forever… I'll never forget that day… it was when I fell in love with you."

Akira's eyes widened in shock, Ichigo rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'll keep waiting for you to catch me, Niizuma. I want to be with you forever."

Akira lifted her face so she could look in his eyes. He was smiling.

"What kind of gamble was that? It's as if we had put our money on the same horse." He said. "Takagi, I'll give you my best this time, as I never did before. I'll put all my heart in the next arc and, until its conclusion, I'll surpass you. And then we'll get married."

"But if you fail, you'll have to keep trying to catch me." Ichigo smiled. "I won't make things easy for you. Yume and I will make the best arc ever. You'll have my best too."

And so their most important battle began.


	17. Lamen and Four votes

It had been a tradition to team Fukuda for years to pass time once in a while at a certain lamen shop. The place was owned by a beautiful and hot-tempered woman called Kimiko. It was Fukuda's favorite restaurant and he always went there whenever he wanted to buy lamen or talk about his problems. It took more than ten years for him to finally ask Kimiko to go on a date; and one date to propose to her. Together they would have a son called Ken, who would inherent his father's talent. After 12 years of marriage, Kimiko discovered she had an incurable disease and died in a few months. After that, Fukuda never drew again.

He retired from his mangaka life and took care of his son and the shop, no matter how much his friends protested his decision. Nowadays, Ken was a mangaka and dated his assistant, a former Shoujo mangaka who loved gore stories. Team Fukuda still reunited regularly.

**Chapter 17: Lamen and Four votes**

"You guys are always talking about manga, don't you ever get tired?" Kaya asked a little annoyed; Akito, Moritaka, Yuriko, Kazuya, Aiko, Shinta and Eiji were discussing passionately about Jump series while eating lamen on a table, after the restaurant had closed and only the group of friends was left there. She, along with Miho, attended the reunions since Fukuda had retired as a mangaka, under his invitation. "This isn't a work reunion, but a hang out, right?"

"That's right, but what can we do if we love to talk about manga?" Akito replied.

"Even I still like to discuss it. My boy is a mangaka in Young Jump, you know?" Fukuda informed with a smile.

"Our son, Tak-tan, is working in Jump. He's the responsible for the art in History Agent." Hiramaru said.

"The art of that manga is lovely, that kid has his mother's delicacy and sensitivity." Aiko complimented.

"Thank you, Aiko-sensei; that was very sweet of you." Yuriko replied kindly.

"What about me? Aren't you going to say he has something from me?" Hiramaru questioned sadly.

"If his series enters an infinite hiatus we'll know he has your genes." Fukuda stated sarcastically.

"I'd like to know Aoki's and Fukuda's boys someday. We should make a get-together for the children. It's been a while since the last time I saw Ichi-chan. She's always saying that she's too busy and doesn't let me go to her apartment saying it's too messy." Kaya said unhappily.

"The children need their space and it's the parents' responsibility to understand that, Kaya-chan. Don't you agree, Saiko?" Takagi asked. Saiko had a depressed expression and whispered "I miss Yume-chan."

"I like The History Agent a lot, but The World of Ideas is pretty cool too. Their competition reminds me of my relationship with Ashirogi-sensei, somehow." Eiji said, oddly proud, breaking the suddenly gloomy atmosphere.

Miho bit her lower lip. For months the manga "The World of the Ideas" was being serialized and was disputing in popularity with The History Agent, always winning. Her intuition told her immediately that the resemblance between the heroine of that manga and Yume wasn't a coincidence, leading her to the conclusion that it was her daughter's and Ichigo's manga. However, Miho wouldn't directly ask her little girl for confirmation for her suspicion because she believed there was a reason for the secret. Neither did she tell anyone about the matter due to the lack of proof and the unspoken loyalty to her daughter. It had been a while since she wanted to ask someone knowledgeable about the quality of the girls' manga. The opportunity and courage to do so had showed up.

"Niizuma-san, what do you think about The World of the Ideas?"

Everybody looked at Miho right away, surprised by the fact that she was interested in a newbie's work. Eiji, on the other side, gave her a look of understanding, as if the two of them shared a secret.

"Hey, Shuujin, what is this strange feeling I'm getting?" Mashiro asked.

"I think you're jealous and wondering if your wife has an affair with Eiji, Saiko." Shuujin said in loud voice.

"Don't joke like that!" Kaya reprehended her husband, but almost everybody laughed, minus Miho and Moritaka, who were blushing.

"Don't worry, Mashiro-sensei, I already have my muse, and your muse has only eyes for you." Eiji explained in a joking tone.

"I-I know it!" Mashiro was now utterly embarrassed. Eiji smiled and remembered about Miho's question.

"I think The World of the Ideas is interesting because it's mainstream and no mainstream at the same time. It's a classic adventure, but the main character is a strong female with a tragic past that fights to protect the world without ever letting herself fall into darkness. In a genre where women are traditionally portrayed as cute and sweet love interests for heroes, that's something that I like to see."

"I don't think it's something suited for Jump." Takagi commented. "Boys don't like heroines like her and the men in the story don't even try to protect the women."

"Not to mention that for a battle manga with female fighters, we don't get to see panties or revealing armors. What is Tashida Hina thinking? That's what guys are really looking forward to see in the story." Fukuda added.

"That must have been the most outrageous sexist comments I ever heard from you." Miho said, annoyed.

"I agree with Miho!" Kaya complemented. "During years I've heard this crap about heroines being ideal women! Why can't they be more realistic and more developed?"

"But this is Shonen manga we're talking about, Kaya-chan." Takagi replied. Eiji jumped and stood on his bench while gesturing energetically and said:

"Until when are we going to bind ourselves to the word 'Shonen'? The world is in constant evolution and so should we be! The World of the Ideas has been in first place many times and this means it's appreciated for both boys and girls. It's a good story with good characters and that's what people like about it. Please don't talk about women as if they existed only to men. They are people and should be valued by that!"

"Eiji has become such a feminist after he married Iwase. But I think he's right. I too should change my concepts." Akito sighed.

"My son's girlfriend is very strong-minded, just like my wife used to be. I appreciate tough women, but I don't know if they're appealing to young boys." Fukuda commented.

"The more they have contact with tough women the more they'll appreciate them." Yuriko said.

"Despite the fact that manga is entertainment, I believe the industry can pass positive messages for the children." Aiko added.

"I like the heroine of that manga a lot." Saiko said, smiling. "She's familiar to me somehow; I don't know how to put it."

Miho liked to hear that. Eiji sat down again and announced:

"This week the anime for The History Agent will debut. Let's see if the manga will steal the first place from The World of the Ideas."

_What's with this meeting? Nobody talked about their own mangas yet_. Hiramaru thought.

The next Sunday, the anime of The History Agent debuted and Akira looked excitedly to the TV.

"I never expected to be so cool to see my characters moving and talking. Takuya, stop working for a minute and come watch it with me."

Takuya didn't want to do so. The sole word "anime" distressed him. He hadn't talked to anyone about the incident involving Kouji that happened months ago. Without realizing it, he had become more introspective and focused on work, rarely leaving the apartment. Neither did Yume visit him. Their relationship became tense. Takuya had searched for information about Yamada Kouji and learned in more detail about the circumstances of his father's death. Also, Hiramaru discovered that Kouji worked now in Toei. He heard from Akira that Yume rarely left her apartment either, which made him relieved. Though, he still felt guilty for not telling her the truth. Akira had noticed the distress of his friend, but he didn't know how to approach the subject. Besides, he himself hadn't spent much time with Ichigo lately. They both felt awkward since that talk.

"Our longest arc is reaching its climax and now we have an anime. In no time our manga will surpass The World of the Ideas, isn't it exciting? Nobody is expecting Luce's father to be alive and the revelation that he, and not Kumagawa, is the real villain. It's going to be great, don't you think?" Akira asked, beaming.

"Yes, sure." Takuya replied gloomy. "But their manga is in a great arc too. The guardian of Virgo is lost in Arachne's maze and fighting the Demon of Night. Meanwhile, Miki and the others are cornered by the God of Wrath and the guardian of Aries, who was brainwashed by the enemy."

"Have more self-confidence, damn it! What on Earth is wrong with you?" Akira questioned. Takuya simply sighed and said that everything was fine. The next week, The World of the Ideas was still in first place, but The History Agent was only 23 votes behind.

"They're getting close to us! I didn't expect that plot-twist about Luce's father! Everything can happen next week!" Ichigo stated, while revising her script. Yume was working with the assistant Tomoe Tougo, a black-haired young man who enjoyed spend time online.

"In our next chapter, Miki will hear Gabriel's voice and realize he's in great danger in the maze, while Fuu asks to fight the brainwashed Karl by herself. It will be a very emotive chapter; The History Agent will have to be really awesome to beat us." Mashiro pointed it out, lacking energy. Tomoe asked to go to the restroom and left them alone. Takagi approached her friend.

"What's the matter, Yume? You don't seem to be doing well. And lately I haven't seen you talk to Takuya."

"I don't know." Yume replied in a sad voice. "I've been feeling down since the last time I talked to Takuya. I just don't know what I feel anymore. I don't recognize this emotion and I don't know what to do. It scares me. I miss him, but I don't want to see him. I never felt this bad before."

"Do you feel guilty for him to be in love with you?"

"It's not that. I don't know how to explain it." Yume held her head. It was so confuse. She never had missed someone as much as she missed Takuya. His voice, his laughter, his face… it was as if he had become an important part of her life and now that they hadn't seen each other she felt uncompleted. But at the same time that she missed him, she was scared of the way he was making her feel. It was no longer the sadness of not being able to correspond to his feelings. It was the doubt. Her once clear heart was now full of mist, and she wasn't walking on stable ground anymore. It was as if her world had turned upside-down and everything she knew once wasn't so obvious anymore. What did she feel for Takuya? What changed? Why did she rarely think about Kouji now that Takuya invaded her mind against her will? Her parents had been in love since their childhood and never had those doubts. Why was that happening to her? Was her heart so shallow? Was her love toward Kouji so weak? Or perhaps she was just confused and tired. Nothing to worry about in the end, right? Everything was the same way it should be, wasn't it?

"I can't help you to understand your own feelings, Yume. But I'll be by your side no matter what conclusion you reach." Ichigo comforted her friend. "What is Tomoe doing in the restroom? It's taking way too long!"

Tomoe was visiting one of his social networks accounts at the moment, using his tablet, making a photoset that showed two characters of The World of the Ideas. The tags he wrote were: "I think there will be many KaFu moments soon, I ship them so hard! My OTP is meant to be!"

The chapter of The History Agent on next issue of Jump was read by Ichigo 13 times. Mashiro had cried a little when she read the said chapter. Tomoe had gone to the restroom everyday at least four times to check the big fuss the internet was doing over it (the girls thought he had eaten something really bad, though):

_Luce had been betrayed by her father and was about to fall into the infinity's whirlpool, OH GOSH!_

_She had given up on everything and was going to be forever trapped in an endless looping without escape!_

_But then Shinji…. Kyah!_

_He jumped after her and grabbed her hand!_

_And he said! HE SAID THAT!_

One day, the door of the girls' apartment was abruptly opened. Akira entered the place still holding his phone. Smiling and crying at the same time, he walked toward the desk where Ichigo was sitting. Looking at him with wide and tearful eyes, she stood up and headed toward Akira. They stood in front of each other. Tomoe couldn't take his eyes off of them. Yume hardly could breathe. She unconsciously looked to the door and felt disappointed to see only Rumi there, observing everything with curiosity. _Why didn't Takuya come along?_

Akira took a deep breath and gathered his courage to say: "I have caught you. I will never let go of you."

"I know." Ichigo replied, passing her arms around the shy boy and pulling him into a kiss.

Meanwhile, Takuya answered his own phone, in his apartment.

"Takuya-kun, what happened? Akira-kun hang up the phone right after I told him The History Agent had taken first place with four votes of difference to The World of the Ideas! I understand that he's happy, but he shouldn't be so rude with his editor!"

"Don't be mad at him, Tohru-san. He must be proposing to Ichigo-san now." Takuya informed with a little smile.

"P-proppose? I-Ichigo-san? The writer in Tashida Hina? Is this for real?" Tohru asked perplexed.

"Well, I don't know yet. When he comes back I'll ask him."

"Okay then. Tomorrow I'll pass by. I have good news for the girls too."

"Really? What good news?"

"I want to make a surprise, so please don't tell them. Toei Animation is interested in making an anime for The World of the Ideas. Isn't that great? Hello? Takuya-kun?" Tohru was astonished at the realization that the always polite Takuya had just hang up the phone. _What's wrong with mangakas nowadays?_

**Sorry for not updating last month, but I hope this chapter compensates it somehow. Thank you very much for the reviews. ;)**


	18. Magic Leaf and a special place

"The World of the Ideas?" Yamada Kouji asked when the animation director was informing the staff about a possible new project.

"That's right, Yamada-kun. It's a hit in Jump and it would be good for our studio to animate it. We lost The History Agent, but we can grab this one, as soon as the author agrees." The old man answered. Kouji didn't comment anything on the matter.

**Chapter 18: Magic Leaf and a special place**

Yamada Zenjirou was able to open his own animation studio one year after marrying his childhood friend Hana Akane. She was a beautiful and popular seyuu who could have had her carrier ruined because of her engagement, but thanks to the love story of Azuki Miho and Mashiro Moritaka, she was able to continue her work. The press had treated the relationship between Zenjirou and Akane like a new fairy tale made of dreams and promises, easily relatable to Ashirogi's story. The attention given by the newspapers helped Zenjirou to get sponsors and open his studio. However, the situation of the young couple would change.

They soon became old news and had to struggle to survive. Akane got pregnant and became a workaholic in a desperate effort to sustain her family. Magic Leaf never managed to grow into a big studio, having few projects each year and making little money. Due to the stress, Akane lost her first child. Zenjirou told her that they could try again sometime later and dedicated himself entirely to work, like he always did. Akane tried not to be a bother to the man and his dream. Even though her heart was shattered and she cried every day, she did her best to support Zenjirou. A few months later, she got pregnant again. Kouji would be born healthily to grow up in an unhappy family. The few times his father had dinner with him and Akane were swallowed in a heavy silence. His mother would never smile when that man was around. Frequently the boy would hear his mother crying, locked in her bedroom. However, in front of her son, she would force a smile and tell him that everything was perfectly fine.

One day, Kouji visited his father in the Magic Leaf, on his way back from school, to talk to the man.

"Dad, why do you spend more time here than in home?" The boy asked, looking up to the man editing an episode of an anime.

"Because I'm pursuing my dream, Kouji. I'll give everything I have to turn Magic Leaf into a big and famous studio." Zenjirou replied proudly.

"Mom is always sad." Kouji said unhappily. The adult looked down at the small boy and sighed.

"Your mother is a woman. She can't understand a man's dream. The only happiness a woman can achieve is to give herself entirely to her family and support her husband. Your mother has to work because I still can't sustain our family. Once the studio grows and I make good money, Aka-chan will be able to leave her job and become a happy housewife."

"Mom likes her job. She's unhappy because you're never with us. If the studio grows, you'll spend even less time with us." Kouji said. Zenjirou slept the boy, furiously.

"Don't be so cocky, you brat! As if a child like you could understand an adult's feelings! You know nothing! You're a child!"

Kouji ran from the studio, crying. When he got home, his mother was still working. Desperate to evade his mind to a place where he wouldn't need to think about his problems, he looked for a videogame in a little room used by his parents as a deposit. He found a not-labeled DVD. Curious, he took it to his room and ran it in his computer. It was a video featured by a young couple: a man with dark hair and small eyes and a beautiful woman with long silver hair and big blue eyes. It was strange for Kouji to see his parents beaming and laughing in that distant past.

"Hello, children of the future, this is your Dad talking. Have you been good siblings to each other?"

"Honey, we just got married, you should at least wait until I'm pregnant to make this video."

"Come on, Aka-chan, let's enjoy the moment. Okay, sons and daughters, we're recording this moment to you so you can know how our life together began. I've been in love with Aka-chan since I was little and perhaps I would have never found the courage to express my feelings toward her if it weren't for Ashirogi Muto."

"It's a funny story that they inspired you to confess to me. Children, a seyuu called Azuki Miho, with whom I worked once, and a mangaka called Mashiro Moritaka, the artist of the Ashirogi Muto partnership, had promised to each other to get married when she dubbed the heroine of a manga created by the duo."

"Isn't it beautiful? The same day I read about their story in the newspaper I told your mother that I loved her and proposed to her. And she said yes! Do you imagine how happy I was?"

"So we made our own promise that I would dub a character of an anime Zenjirou is going to make."

"And it must be based on a work of Ashirogi Muto. It will be perfect!" The man said, kissing passionately his wife.

"In the future I'll be the greatest seyuu and the Magic Leaf will be the greatest animation studio." Akane stated, smiling widely. Kouji stopped the video and turned off the computer. He couldn't watch it any longer. That night, his parents had a big fight.

"WHAT HAVE YOU TOLD KOUJI, YOU STUPID WOMAN?"

"What are you talking about?"

"HE DISTURBED ME IN THE STUDIO TO TELL ME THAT YOU'RE UNHAPPY BECAUSE I'M NEVER IN HOME!"

"He's intelligent. He must have noticed how I felt. But I never told him-"

"SO YOU'RE UNHAPPY? WE DEAL WITH SOME MISFORTUNE AND YOU DON'T WANT TO SUPPORT ME ANYMORE, IS THAT RIGHT?"

"I've supported you for ten years! I've almost killed myself working to bring food to this house while you were locked in that studio! I practically raised Kouji by myself to support you! I LOST MY FIRST CHILD TO SUPPORT YOU!"

Kouji, from his room, heard his mother crying. Two minutes later, Zenjirou spoke:

"I-I just need a hit anime to make the Magic Leaf grow. An anime based on a manga made by Ashirogi Muto. Then we can make our dream-"

"I no longer have dreams." Akane's voice was deeply sad. "Neither do I care about silly old promises. Never mention that promise again."

From that day on, Kouji would hear his parents argue many times. A certain day, he surprised his mother sitting on the living room's couch grabbing a flask of sleep pills. She stared at the medicine hopelessly, as if she wished to sleep and never wake up again, desperately trying to run away from everything. When she realized that Kouji was there, she quickly hid the flask in her purse and told him that she had to go to the Bank to talk to someone so they wouldn't lose their apartment. When she was at the door, the boy hugged her from behind and cried. Without turning around, she whispered:

"Never become like your father, Kouji."

Things seemed to get better after that day. Akane was cheerful and visited the bank regularly. Kouji thought that maybe his parents were solving their problems. But it didn't take too long for them to fight again.

"Zenjirou, we can't live like this anymore! We barely have the money to buy food!"

"Aka-chan, be a little more patient! There hasn't been any work lately!"

"That's because nobody wants to entrust an anime to your bankrupt studio!"

"Don't talk like that about Magic Leaf! We just need a hit anime. Something from Jump!"

"As if anyone in Jump would do business with you! You have to sell the studio, there's no other choice!"

"The studio is my life! Animation is my life! I rather die than selling Magic Leaf!"

"Your family is supposed to be the most important thing in your life, Zenjirou! You've always been a negligent husband and father! If you don't sell your studio and get a new job, I'm going to take Kouji and leave you!"

"You think I don't know the truth? You're having an affair with that banker! You're leaving me so you can run into that rich guy's arms!"

"Can you blame me? He cares for me! He loves me! Different from you who only thinks about yourself! I LOVE HIM MORE THAN YOU!"

"YOU'RE MY WIFE! YOU SHOULD BE WITH ME FOREVER! HOW CAN YOU FALL FOR SOMEONE ELSE?!"

The next day, Akane took Kouji and moved to Hasegawa Junpei's apartment. He was a good man, a banker, and was always kind to both mother and son. However, Kouji couldn't bring himself to like that man. One year later, he saw his father in front of Hasegawa's building. The animator had let his beard grow and smelled like vodka. Kouji approached Zenjirou hesitantly, shocked by the vision of his father in that state. The adult turned to the boy and smiled. His eyes twinkled madly.

"I wasn't able to talk to your Mom. How are the two of you doing?"

"What happened to you?" Kouji questioned. Zenjirou trembled and looked up at the building.

"You must be doing great. Living in this luxurious place with that rich guy… a random guy who showed up from nowhere… and stole her from me… everybody abandoned me." He clenched his fists fiercely. "You know, Kouji? When I was young, people told me that I was one of the best animators in Japan. I had the dream of opening my own studio. I loved your mother, but I didn't have the courage to confess to her. It's stupid, but… when I heard about Mashiro Moritaka and Azuki Miho, I decided to give it a try. I pursued my dream and my love, but…"

Big tears fell from the man's eyes, Kouji wanted to cry too.

"Why couldn't we be as happy as them? Didn't we work hard? Didn't we love each other? What went wrong? Why instead of reaching our dreams… we were crashed by reality? You know, Kouji? Everything we learn in mangas and animes are lies. Life is nothing more than a road to despair… we're just lying to ourselves the whole time… trying to believe in things like dreams, love and happiness… we are so stupid."

Zenjirou walked away slowly. Frightened, Kouji asked:

"Dad, where are you going?"

The animator turned around and forced a smile in his wet face.

"I'm going to a special place, Kouji… a beautiful and perfect place. This is farewell. Don't let your life end up like mine."

The next morning, Kouji was awoken by his mother's sobs coming from the kitchen. Hasegawa was trying to comfort her.

"I have influence in the newspapers. They'll treat it like an accident. Nobody will know."

"H-he locked all the doors and windows of the studio… h-he threw gasoline everywhere… I can't believe he did this. It's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself! There was nothing you could do for him. If at least he had sold the studio-"

"The Magic Leaf was his life… that was the only way for him to put an end in his life… my poor Zenjirou…"

Kouji became an introspective person. He left that apartment at the age of 15 years old, refusing any money from Hasegawa and cutting relations with his mother. He didn't know what to do. There was a nasty feeling perpetually in his chest. A mix of emptiness, hatred, sadness, despair, confusion, fury, revolt… hidden behind a smiling face.

His world went upside down when he saw a paper falling from the notebook of a classmate. He picked it up and saw a drawing of himself. The drawing style was familiar to him. The classmate's name was Mashiro Yume.

For the first time, Yamada Kouji knew what to do.

_**"I'd like to make an anime based on your manga!"**_

_**"Yeah. Ichigo and I will write a great manga, then you can animate it and then... and then..."**_

"_**It's all in the past and the future is the only thing that matters, right?"**_

"_**Mashiro-san, it was the first time that anyone ever…"**_

"_**I'm looking forward the day when our dreams become true."**_

_**'Do you want to go to the Pizza Hut near our old school at ten o'clock tonight?'**_

'_**I **__**would love to go.**____**See you at the Pizza Hut at ten o'clock at night.**____**Kisses!'**_

"_**Excuse me, are you Mashiro-san?"**_

"_**Yes,"**_

"_**There's a young man outside, wearing a blazer; he described you and said that he needed to talk to you urgently."**_

"_**Sorry, Yamada-kun, I'll be right back,"**_

_**Who is that guy? Why did she go outside for him?**_

"_**It's rare to see you read manga, Yamada-kun."**_

"_**Mashiro-san emailed me about the debut of a friend of ours. I'm reading his piece out of curiosity."**_

"_**Is it good?"**_

"_**I guess so."**_

"_**This Mashiro-san is the mangaka girl you always talk about, right? What is your relationship with her exactly?"**_

"_**I'd say Mashiro-san is my bridge. I need her more than anything in the world."**_

"…_**y-you see, there's this wonderful girl who lives in the apartment in front of mine… I knew her before we were neighbors, actually… I-I mean… she's the source of my happiness and motivation… and she's going to assist me…"**_

"_**I'm Hiramaru Takuya, what's your name?"**_

"_**You can call me Zenjirou."**_

"_**Takuya-san, you're such a sweet and innocent person. I'm sorry to do this, but, as your friend, I must open your eyes. As a neutral bystander I can clearly see that neither Akira-san nor Yume-san care about you. Both of them just wanted to take advantage of your talent for their own purposes."**_

"_**Fate doesn't exist!"**_

"_**Yume-san and Yamada-san would be the couple based on dreams and promises. Do you know what that means?"**_

"_**It means that, no matter what happens or who appears, they will end up together. The heroine always chooses the hero and someone like you, who appeared from nowhere in the middle of the story, can never stay with the heroine at the end of it. If you believe in fate, then you should see what fate states for her. You should give up on Yume-san."**_

"… _**Y-Yamabaka is the hero of the story?"**_

"_**Your love battle is lost. Minor characters never are chosen by the heroines. You must find your own path and your own story." **_

_**It is all over now.**_

"_**If you go back to them, you'll only find misery!"**_

"_**I've been living the happiest time of my life since I met them."**_

"_**Zenjirou was my father's name. He owned an animation studio called Magic Leaf. He was once called one of the best animators in Japan. But the business weren't going well and my cursed mother abandoned him to live with a guy who showed up from nowhere. She had married my father, she had promised to be by his side forever and never stop loving him, but that man appeared and destroyed everything."**_

"_**I'll take everything my father lost and I won't let anyone be in my way."**_

Yamada Kouji asked permission to leave the reunion because he wasn't feeling well. He walked slowly, taking his phone out from his pocket, and sending a text message. Everything had led to that point. His mind was clear. He knew what to do.

'Hi, Mashiro-san.'

'Yamada-kun? It has been a long time.'

'Yes it has. I'm texting because of the news.'

'What? You already know about Ichigo and Akira going out officially? They just left for a dinner! I suspect our assistant is gossiping about us in the internet.'

'Good to know about that. I'm happy for them. Actually I wanted to talk about the anime.'

'Anime?'

'Didn't your editor tell you? Toei wants to animate your manga. If you accept it, our dreams will become true!'

'OMG! REALLY? O:'

'Yes.'

'I'm so happy, Yamada-kun! I barely can type now! 8D'

'I want to talk to you, if possible. Not through the phone, but face to face.'

'I understand. I need to talk to you too.'

'What I have to say is very important.'

'The same goes for me.'

'Could you meet me at that Pizza Hut? From there I want to take you to a special place?'

'What place?'

'A special place, Yume.'

'You just said my name.'

'Well, I typed it.'

'Even so… is everything okay?'

'Everything is perfectly fine. :)'

'I never expected you would like emoticons. ^^'

'We can't see each other's face with these messages; neither can we hear each other's voices. You have no idea what I'm feeling right now, but if I put a :) in the message you'll imagine me smiling.'

'Are you really smiling, Yamada-kun?'

'You can call me just Kouji. ;)'

'Are you smiling, Kouji-kun?'

'…'

'Kouji-kun, are you alright?'

'Didn't I tell you already that everything is perfectly fine? ^_^'

'Yes, I'm sorry.'

'Are you smiling now, Yume? :)'

'Yes.'

'Are you smiling like you used to smile to me when we were in the same class? Are you smiling like when we made our promise? Are you smiling like in our graduation ceremony? :)'

'Why are you asking me this?'

'Why are you smiling now? :)'

'I'm happy.'

'Really? :)'

'Yes.'

'Why are you happy, Yume? :)'

'I'm happy for my friends and because of our anime. I'm happy that our dreams became true. :'D'

'Is there something else that makes you happy, Yume? :)'

'Well, I like my job and'

'Is there someone else who makes you happy, Yume? :)'

'Are you smiling for someone else, Yume? :)'

'I don't understand what you mean.'

'Never mind, I must be writing something weird because I can't hold this feeling in my chest. _'

'I see.'

'I'll be leaving soon. I'll wait for you in front of the Pizza Hut. :)'

'For what kind of place are we going?'

'Why do you ask? It's a surprise. _'

'But I want to know what I should wear.'

'Don't worry about that. You're always beautiful, Yume. :)'

'Oh, thank you.'

'You're welcome. :)'

'Seriously, where are we going? I need to leave a message to Ichigo.'

'Are you going to disturb your friend's date? XD'

'It's not that, but I need to tell someone where I'm going. It's late, it's a safety matter.'

'Does that mean that you don't trust me, Yume? XD'

'I didn't say that.'

'I'll take good care of you, don't worry. :)'

'I want to call you. I want to hear your voice.'

'I have to turn off my phone now, Yume. See you in front of Pizza Hut in half an hour. Bye. :)'


	19. Love and Despair

I must bake a cake for each one of my readers for being so patient with me. :D

**Chapter 19: Love and Despair**

"From all the places you could choose, Takagi, why Pizza Hut?" Akira inquired slightly annoyed while he played with a napkin over the table.

"It was close to our place and we both like pizza, what's the problem?" Ichigo questioned a little irritated, while she analyzed the menu.

"Takuya won't like to know that we came to the same place Mashiro had her date with Yamada." Akira commented, grabbing a glass and drinking water.

"You cheer for those two to be together, Niizuma?" She asked, smiling.

"What?" Akira was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "It's not as if I want them to be together. I just happen to think that if they dated it wouldn't annoy me."

"What are you? A tsundere shipper?" Ichigo mocked him. Niizuma was going to protest, but he found the young woman especially beautiful in that moment, despite the fact that he was wearing his best social white shirt while she chose a simple green dress. But it was not as if he expected her to dress like a fairy tale princess because that would be the most important moment of their lives since he happened to have in his pocket a blue plastic ring he had bought more than ten years ago on the exact day he had decided to marry Ichigo in the future. Niizuma Akira would deny all this, in spite of it being true.

"I want Yume to be happy. If she falls for Hiramaru, I'll support my friend." Ichigo said serenely, closing her eyes and smiling. Distracted by her action, the blushing boy accidentally poured water on himself.

"DAMN IT!" He exclaimed, standing up in a jump. Startled, Ichigo opened her eyes and found the scene amusing.

"What are you doing, you clumsy fool? Ha ha ha ha."

"D-don't laugh, don't you have any delicacy, damn it?" Akira reprehended her, his face was completely red.

"I'm sorry. Why don't you dry yourself in the toilette and I think about how I'm going to make up for you?" Ichigo blinked at him.

"Takagi…" The now extremely shy boy whispered. "Would you really do that in a public place? Were you always like this?"

"I WAS TALKING ABOUT BUYING YOU A DESSERT; I'M NOT A PERVERT, YOU IDIOT!" She yelled at her boyfriend, deeply flustered. Scared for his life, Akira ran to the restroom. _She could have killed me before I had the chance to propose to her,_ he thought, after entering the lavatory and closing its door. In that place, there was a handsome man wearing an elegant black overcoat. Akira knew him from the high school.

"Yamada Kouji." He said in low voice. Kouji seemed slightly surprised by seeing Akira in the restroom, but soon managed to fake a smile.

"Niizuma-san, it has been a long time. Are you on a date?"

Akira blushed and tried to change the subject.

"You're really well-dressed tonight, Yamada. Where are you going?"

"I'm glad you asked," Kouji replied happily, "I'm going to my wedding ceremony."

"Wedding?!" Niizuma asked, astonished. "W-who are you marrying?!"

Kouji laughed wildly, scaring the other man. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha, you are so funny, Niizuma-san! Isn't it obvious? I'm marrying Yume tonight!"

Akira almost lost his balance. All he could do was to stare in disbelief at Yamada. _What is this guy saying? Mashiro would have told us if she was getting married tonight! Besides, she didn't even confess yet! This doesn't make sense at all!_

"Don't be surprised by not being invited, it's a surprise wedding. We'll go on our honey moon right after she says yes." Kouji smiled in a sinister way that freaked Akira out.

"What if she says 'no?'" Niizuma questioned, trying to hide his anxiety. Kouji stopped smiling and gave the mangaka a deeply cold look. Akira was frightened of those eyes, feeling that they could see into his own soul.

"No is not an option for her, Niizuma-san." The animator replied emotionlessly, getting closer to the mangaka. Akira, whose body was telling him to run, decided he had to face that man and defend Mashiro.

"Are you so vicious that you'd force a woman to marry you?"

"Why are you so surprised? Do you think I don't know that you never liked me, Niizuma-san?" Kouji fiercely put his arm against the restroom door and cornered Akira. "Why do you mind me?"

"Mashiro is my friend!" Akira stated with conviction. Kouji lowered his face and examined the mangaka. He had the expression a sadistic hunter would have after capturing his prey and deciding how to kill it. Niizuma was terrified, but he couldn't run. He had known Mashiro for his entire life; he couldn't possibly let that man harm her. Besides, if anything happened to her, Takuya would be devastated, and he didn't want that either. Niizuma Akira had always acted as if he didn't care about other people because he was afraid to look weak. However, since he entered the path of the manga, he had changed and became braver. He would not step back.

"You're not good enough for her, disappear from Mashiro's life!"

"And who would be good enough for her, Niizuma-san? That pathetic excuse of a mangaka that works with you?"

Akira lost his mind and tried to punch Kouji, but the animator dodged the attack, kicked Niizuma's right knee fiercely, causing him to fall, and suspended him by the neck.

Yamada made the mangaka face him. Niizuma could hardly breathe because of the assailant's grip and felt a horrible pain coming from his knee.

"Where's your arrogance now, Niizuma-san?" Kouji asked while beaming. "I bet you never expected to be overpowered by someone like me. I love to see the fear in your eyes right now."

"Let… go…"

"Save your air, Niizuma-san. You can't defeat the hero of the story. The hero and the heroine end up together, that is the most basic law of anime and manga; there are no enemies or minor characters able to stop love." Kouji intensified his grip, making Akira gasp; the animator was staring at him with eyes full of contempt. "If you ask me nicely, Niizuma-san, I won't hurt you too much."

_I should do as he says… it's the most intelligent thing to do._ The semi-conscious Akira thought. He gathered the strength he had left and whispered:

"Go… to Hell."

_Too bad I'm a proud idiot._

In her table, Ichigo was worried about Niizuma's long absence. She decided to go check on him and walked to the restroom, only to find a small commotion of people trying to open the door.

"What is happening?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"We heard noises coming from the restroom and now we can't open the door." A butler replied. Takagi had a terrible feeling in her chest. Acting on instinct, she took a little distance and kicked the door, opening it. She ran inside and found Akira lying on the floor over a puddle of blood. He was severely beaten up, but was still conscious.

"AKIRA!" Ichigo yelled. She fell to her knees close to the man she loved. Tears covered her face at the same that her trembling hands moved to touch Niizuma's bruised face. He looked up to her and was only able to say one thing before passing out.

"Yamada…"

Mashiro was walking down the street when she received an e-mail from Yamada-kun.

'Sorry, I can't go to the Pizza Hut. Let's meet in the train station. :)'

_Why?_ She asked herself. _At least it's closer from where I am._

Ten minutes later, the mangaka reached her destination. Yamada Kouji was waiting for her at the main entrance.

"You're lovely tonight, Yume." He complimented her, in spite of Mashiro being simply wearing snickers, jeans and a blue blouse along with a black purse.

"Why are you so well-dressed, Yamada-kun?" She questioned, confused. Something in Kouji made her feel uneasy.

"I wanted to look beautiful for you tonight. It's a special occasion, don't you think, Yume? Our dreams became reality." He said, grinning. Kouji approached Mashiro and gently held her chin with his right hand. "I planned a fantastic night for us and I want your full attention on me."

"You're too close!" Mashiro almost yelled, pushing the young man away. She thought she had seen something in his left hand, but he quickly hid it in his pocket.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." He said, staring at the floor, sounding apologetically.

"Yamada-kun, don't tell me that you…?" Yume was about to ask him if he had feelings for her. Not much time before that possibility seemed absurd to her and she would get embarrassed whenever she thought about the boy. However, now she felt different. The idea of Yamada Kouji having feelings for her didn't make her happy. She no longer recognized the girl who once promised herself that she would confess her love when her dreams became true.

"Please, Yume, let's save our conversation for later, okay? I want to tell you something in the most perfect way possible." He asked in a shy tone of voice as he turned off in his pocket the cell phone he had just taken out of Mashiro's purse before she had pushed him away.

The mangaka had conflicted feelings, but decided to do as he wished. _After everything that has happened, I own him that. _

"Let's go, then, to your special place, Yamada-kun." She replied, trying to sound sympathetic. "I need to talk to you about something too."

Meanwhile, Takuya received a call from Takagi.

"Hello?" He said unhappily, not moving from the couch where he had been lying since he had received Tohru-san's phone call.

"H-Hiramaru… Akira got hurt… w-we're in the hospital." Ichigo sobbed on the other side of the line.

"Hurt? What do you mean? What happened?!" He jumped from the couch, worried.

"He was b-beaten up in the restroom. He's in intensive care right now…" it was becoming harder for Ichigo to keep talking because of her emotional state. "T-the assailant must have jumped out of the window of the toilet… ahh…"

"Please, calm down, Takagi-san. Akira-san is strong and stubborn; he's going to be just fine." Takuya tried to calm the girl, even though he needed to convince himself of that statement too.

"Y-Yume doesn't answer the p-phone. I need her here. I-I'm so scared…"

"He's going to be okay, I promise you that." Hiramaru said firmly.

"B-before Akira passed out… h-he s-s-said 'Yamada'… I w-wonder if it's the name of the a-assailant… it's strange because it's the n-name of an o-old classmate of ours…"

Takuya's eyes widened in pure horror after he heard that name. He let the phone fall on the floor and rushed to the apartment in his front.

"MASHIRO-SAN! ARE YOU IN THERE?! MASHIRO-SAN!" He cried out as he knocked on the girls' door. Sinking in despair, he held his head with both hands.

_This is my fault._

_I didn't tell anyone. Why didn't I tell anyone about him? Why am I so stupid?_

_It's all my fault._

_Akira-san in the hospital and Yume-tan…_

_Yume-tan…_

_Why didn't I let her know?_

_I didn't want to upset her? How stupid am I?_

_I'm so stupid._

_I'm so useless._

_It's my fault._

_Why didn't I let her know?_

_I'm so stupid._

_Why didn't I tell her the truth right after knowing about the anime? Why did I let myself be depressed?_

_So stupid!_

_My friend is hurt because of me._

_I'm such a moron!_

_The woman I love…_

_My most precious person…_

_My heroine…_

"STOP BEING A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, HIRAMARU TAKUYA!" He yelled at himself as big tears fell from his eyes. Hiramaru slapped his own face and forced himself to regain his composure. "YOUR BEST FRIEND IS HOSPITALIZED AND THE WOMAN YOU LOVE IS IN DANGER AND ALL WHAT YOU CAN DO IS CRY AND GET DESPERATE, HIRAMARU TAKUYA?!"

Takuya clenched his fists, trembling.

"I won't cry anymore. I won't believe I'm useless… I'm not that lonely kid who was harassed by everybody and only found warmness in shoujo manga anymore!" The mangaka stated to himself. He needed to save Mashiro and he couldn't do that if he gave in to depressive thoughts. _Where would that maniac take her? Where… of course! There's only one possible place!_

Takuya ran the fastest he had ever run in his whole life. _Even if I'm just a minor character, for tonight I must be the hero! I must save Yume-tan!_

"What is this hangar?" Mashiro questioned Yamada when they arrived at his special place. The animator opened the door of the hangar and invited the young woman to enter. The inside was ornamented by flowers and candles spread over the floor. There was nothing else in there.

"This hangar was built where an animation studio called Magic Leaf existed in the past. It was my father's life." Kouji informed, looking around proudly. "I decorated it for Yume."

Mashiro was feeling anxious in that place. Yamada Kouji suddenly grabbed her hand and put himself on his knees.

"What are you doing, Yamada-kun?" She inquired nervously. Kouji took a small box from an inside pocket of his overcoat and opened it, showing Mashiro a golden ring.

"Mashiro Yume-san, you've been in my thoughts for years. Now that our dreams are true, I can't hide my intentions anymore. Please, marry me." Yamada proposed to the girl in a state of ecstasy. _Father, can you see me now? I did it. I'm going to be happy. Can you see me, Father?_

Yume was firstly surprised by the other's action. Then, she looked at him with sadness.

"Yamada-kun, I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you. You were so cool and wonderful to my eyes that I thought my heart would explode every time I looked at you. I work with manga because of you and I'm grateful for that. I promised myself that when you animated my manga, I would confess my love for you."

"That's great, Yume! Why don't you look happy? We've won! We're going to get married now! Why don't you smile? Smile to me like you used to in our high school years!" Kouji pleaded, holding the mangaka's hand more fiercely.

"If I had confessed to you right away or if you had confessed to me until the day of our graduation, we could have started dating. It was silly of us." Mashiro said unhappily.

"But we're here now, Yume. It's okay. We're going to be happy!"

"On the day of our graduation I entered a coffee shop and met a butler who had an incredible talent for drawing." She added, not realizing that Kouji was turning pale because of what she had just said. "He joined Akira and we became friends. In the beginning he bothered me… but then I saw his true colors. Hiramaru Takuya… is kind, honest, hard-working, persistent… and he loves me…" Yume began to cry, but at the same time a smile appeared in her lips. "I don't know when or how it happened… I didn't plan it… I didn't wish for this… but it happened. I'm sorry, Yamada-kun. I can't marry you."

Kouji let go of her hand. _This can't be true. She's lying. I can't accept this._

"I fell in love with another man" was the last thing Yume said before Yamada jumped on her and knocked her down. She hit her head on the floor and lost consciousness. He stared at her madly, shaking with hatred, thinking on what he would do next.

"You should be mine forever." Kouji whispered in her ear. "How can you fall for someone else?"


	20. Dreams and Reality

This is the end of the fanfic. I'm sorry for taking so long to finish this story. I haven't had much time to write lately. Thank you so very much for your reviews. I hope you like the final chapter. :)

**Chapter 20: Dreams and Reality**

Yume was awakened by the smell of the candles. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on the floor, with Kouji sitting next to her and looking darkly into her eyes. The mangaka's hands had been tied up and were resting above her belly. In her entire life, Mashiro had never felt a fear so intense like the one she was experiencing at the moment.

"Yamada-kun, what are you doing?" She put her best effort in not letting her terror be noticed in her voice. The animator smiled as his eyes grew wider.

"I'm taking you with me to our new house. You'll love it; we're going to live with my Dad. He'll be astonished to see how beautiful my bride is."

_What do I do?_ Yume asked herself, panicking_. If I reject him again, he might hurt me or worse! How stupid of me! How did I never notice he was like this?! I'm so dumb, damn it!_

"W-Where's your father now, Yamada-kun?" She questioned, while looking around for a way to escape.

"You know, Yume? My father told me once that life was a road to despair." Kouji narrated, standing up with a candle in his left hand. "Things like happiness and making dreams into reality were lies. I should have listened to him, but I had to _try_ to be happy!" He was becoming more agitated and angry. "I did my best, but you betrayed me. While you were unconscious, I finally understood. There's no happiness in this world. We have to escape reality to realize our dreams. Let's go together to the land of dreams, Yume. Just like my father did."

He walked slowly to an extremity of the hangar where a bottle had been placed. He let a single drop of the liquid inside fall on the flame of the candle he was holding and Mashiro watched in pure horror as the fire grew. Yamada walked with both the bottle and the candle in his hands toward the young woman.

_Is this it? I'm going to die?_ She began to cry. _Just like this? Alone with a lunatic in a fire? What are my parents going to do when they know about this? Mom is strong, but I know she's going to fall apart. And Dad… my gosh… my Dad adores me so much… this is going to kill him! Why did I let this happen? Why was I so stupid? What is going to happen to Ichigo? Even if she has Akira now, I was always her best friend. To whom is she going to tell all her secrets and insecurities? With whom is she going to write manga? I never had the chance to tell my parents that I was a mangaka. Why? Because of some stupid fear? Because I wanted to show off to them on the right moment? I'm such an idiot! I'm going to die. There are so many things that I want to tell people. And Takuya never knew… he tried so hard and suffered so much for me… and I didn't tell him…"_

"Final chance, my dear." Kouji asked as he had gotten close to Yume again. "Tell me that you were joking before. Tell me that you love me and I'll untie you."

_I only need to lie to him. Just one lie. When he unties me, I'll run away. It's the clever decision. I just have to say that I love him!_

But there was a problem. Perhaps because Mashiro had grown up reading shounen manga. Perhaps because of her parents' epic love story. Perhaps because of Takuya's insistence in calling her 'heroine'. Despite the conclusion that what she was about to say was the worst thing in that situation, she couldn't avoid to feel pride.

"I'm sorry, Yamada-kun." She began, with great conviction. "I fell in love with another man."

When Yamada was about to throw the bottle on the girl, in fury, the door of the hangar was harshly opened. He turned his head quickly and saw a figure standing there, painting heavily, all covered in sweat and dirt and wearing no shoes. An infuriated Hiramaru Takuya walked into the hangar.

"The minor character arrives in such a cool fashion." Kouji mocked Takuya. Mashiro took the chance and moved her hands in the direction of a candle, hoping to set fire on the rope and be freed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to Yume-tan?" Takuya inquired, clenching his fists and continuing to approach the animator. Kouji got closer to the mangaka too, studying him.

"Do you think you are a hero?" Yamada taunted Hiramaru. "Did you come here to rescue the princess and marry her? The brave warrior who overcame everything and now takes the prize!"

"Yume-tan is a person!" Takuya stated in anger. "She's not a prize! She's not a thing that only exists to suit someone's needs! She's an extraordinary human being who has her own dreams and is free to make her own choices! And I love her. I don't need anything in retribution for my love. I just want her to be safe and happy!"

"ENOUGH WITH THIS SHITTY TALK!" Kouji yelled, throwing the bottle in Takuya's direction, but missing him. The glass broke when it hit the floor and the flames of the candles nearby started a fire. "You are all mocking me! I can hear your laughs! You worms! I'll kill you all! I'll make you scream in agony!"

Kouji jumped on Takuya and grabbed his neck fiercely. The mangaka tried to fight back but couldn't breathe. The temperature was unbearable and the smoke was covering the place.

"L-let Yume-tan go." Takuya ordered. "I'm the one you hate."

"No, Takuya-san." Kouji replied in a high tone of voice. "It's that bitch's fault for rejecting me! It's her fault for falling in love with you! That's why I'm going to kill you in front of her eyes."

Those words hit Takuya like bullets. Even though he was on the verge of death, what he felt in that moment filled him with happiness.

_She loves me._

"Why are you smiling? Who smiles in this situation?" Yamada questioned in confusion.

"A hero does!" Yume yelled, hitting Kouji's head with a piece of wood that had fallen from the wall because of the fire, and making him pass out. Her fists were a little burned, but she was in good state. Mashiro helped Takuya to stand up and they both searched for the exit, taking the unconscious Kouji with them, without sharing a word. At the outside, the firefighters were arriving.

"People saw the smoke and we were called. What happened here?!" The man in charge asked.

"Sir, we need to call the police." Yume said, crying and letting Kouji fall on the ground. Takuya hugged her and cried too. They were asked to go to the hospital first, but Yume was determinate. In the police station, they both gave their reports. Takuya told Yume everything he had hid from her and begged for her forgiveness. He also informed her about Akira's situation. Yume wasn't talking a lot. She wasn't mad at Takuya or anything similar. She was in state of shock. They were sitting on a bench when a police officer approached them and said that the station had taken the liberty to call their families and that Kouji had been sent to a hospital where he would be under surveillance, and his mother had been contacted. Takuya and Yume nodded.

Moritaka and Miho had arrived in the police station at the same time as Yuriko and Kazuya.

"Aoki-sensei and Hiramaru-sensei?" Mashiro asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"We were called. It seems that our son was involved in a dangerous situation." Aoki replied. Each one of the parents had a heavy and concerned expression.

"The same happened to our daughter. Did Yume know your son?" Miho asked.

"Your daughter is Yume-tan?" Kazuya questioned in shock.

"Yume-tan?" Mashiro wasn't understanding what Hiramaru was talking about.

"We should enter and find them already." Miho was impatient. The four of them did so and it didn't take long for a police officer to guide them to where Yume and Takuya were sitting. Moritaka noticed immediately that the boy next to his daughter was the pervert he had seen on the day when the girls moved to their apartment. However he didn't have time to say anything before Yume ran to him and Miho and hugged both of them, crying. Yuriko and Kazuya headed to their son and hugged him too.

"Yume-chan, what happened exactly?" Moritaka asked, hugging her tightly.

"I need to tell you many things. But before that I need to see Ichigo." Yume was trying to control her emotions.

"Akira-kun got hurt and was hospitalized. She's with him now." Miho explained.

"I know. Could you please take me to where she is? After I talk to her, I'll explain everything to you. I promise." Yume pleaded. Miho nodded, understanding Yume; Moritaka was anxious and agitated, but agreed too. Takuya stood up.

"Please, allow me to go too. Akira-san is my best friend and I don't want to let Yume-tan alone." The young man asked.

"What is your involvement with my daughter? And what were you doing with her in a hangar that was set on fire?" Moritaka inquired, suspecting of the boy. Though Yuriko and Kazuya were ready to defend their son, it was Yume who stood up for Takuya.

"If it wasn't for Takuya risking his life and going to my rescue, I would be dead now!" Yume stated, holding the young man's hand. "I know that the first impression he gives is not good, but Takuya is the kindest and bravest person I ever met and I'm not going to let anyone insult him!"

Takuya blushed at Yume's actions and words. Yuriko and Kazuya were touched by the scene. Miho smiled, acknowledging her daughter's feelings. Moritaka was first shocked and then began to comprehend everything. _Yume-chan, don't tell me… my little girl has…_

"Do you love my daughter?" Mashiro asked Takuya abruptly.

"Yes, I do. With my entire heart." Hiramaru replied calmly and convicted.

"That's all what I need to know." Moritaka sighed. "We better go to the hospital."

Yume didn't let go of Takuya's hand until they arrived at the place and she found Ichigo sitting on the floor, hiding her head behind her knees. Not far from her, Eiji was standing motionlessly in front of the glass window of Akira's room, watching his son's sleep. Aiko had been informed and was returning from a trip. Akito and Kaya had tried to comfort Ichigo and Eiji, without luck, and now were standing next the young woman.

"Ichigo!" Yume headed toward her friend, grabbing both of her hands and trembling. "This was all my fault. I'm so sorry. I'm so deeply sorry."

Ichigo lifted her head, letting her red eyes visible. "He was attacked in the restroom… The culprit ran away… I couldn't do anything for him."

"The culprit was Yamada Kouji." Yume confessed, swallowing her sobs. "I never realized how his true personality was and let him enter our lives. I was foolish and dumb… and I put everyone in danger, including myself. I am so sorry, Ichigo."

"It wasn't your fault, Yume-tan!" Takuya tried to make her feel better. "You didn't have how to imagine that Yamada was a sociopath! He tied you up and tried to burn you to death, don't you dare feel guilty over it!"

That statement startled every person in the place, even Niizuma Eiji turned his head to Yume.

"Who is this Yamada Kouji you're talking about?" Moritaka asked, in deep fury. "Where is he? I'm going to make him pay!"

"He was sent to a hospital and a police officer is watching him. I doubt he's in this hospital, though." Takuya replied.

"Yamada-kun?" Ichigo was confused. "But he… you were going to confess to him… I encouraged you… oh my god… OH MY GOD!"

"He took me to a hangar and asked me to marry me." Yume narrated. "I told him I had fallen in love with another person…" Yume couldn't stop the tears from falling. Ichigo hugged her in a sudden movement. They both cried.

_Yamada Kouji hurt Akira and almost killed Yume. I almost lost two of the people I love the most…. And I couldn't do anything. I couldn't protect anyone. I always thought that I was so intelligent and tough… but in the end I'm just useless._

"I want to tell our parents everything." Yume spoke with conviction, despite her weak voice. "Since that day when we made a gamble and a deal until tonight. I don't want to hide anything from them anymore."

"I understand." Ichigo wiped her tears away. "No more stupid secrets."

Eiji's cell phone got a message from his wife and he went to her encounter without hearing the story the girls were going to tell. Aiko left a cab in the entrance of the hospital and rushed inside, finding her husband waiting for her.

"What happened to Akira?!" She asked in despair.

"It seems that he was involved in a fight and was beat up very badly. The doctors said that he's going to be all right." Eiji informed with sadness.

"Fight? What was he thinking?" The woman relaxed a little after hearing that Akira was out of danger.

"Our son is a hero, you know? He fought a villain, just like in a manga."

"Life is not like a manga." Akina replied.

"I know it. But repeating to myself that the hero never dies was the only thing that kept me from breaking down." Eiji explained, letting a few tears drop. "I was never the logical and mature type of person, like you. I'm an eternal boy who fears to face reality and hides himself behind manga. People call me genius, but I'm a failure as a father and an adult."

"I'm not a woman who would fall in love with a failure of a man." Aiko contested, hugging Eiji. "I chose to share my life with you, Niizuma-san. Take that into consideration before you spit nonsense."

The male mangaka didn't expect those words. They made him feel better.

"I know, Akina-sensei." Eiji hugged her back. "I'm sorry."

Meanwhile, in front of Akira's bedroom, the adults were digesting the story Yume and Ichigo had told them.

"You're Tashida Hina." Akito sighed, still in disbelief.

"We're probably going to change our pen name to Tashi Hina now." Ichigo added.

"Your story reminded me a little of Mashiro's and Miho's." Kaya commented. "Except for the tragic twist."

"In the end it was impossible for me to follow the footsteps of my parents." Yume whispered with great sadness and guilty.

"You were never meant to follow anyone's footsteps, Yume-chan." Miho affirmed.

"Your mother is right! You have your own story and your own path! Real life is not like a manga! It doesn't have to follow a pre-determinate direction!" Moritaka agreed.

"There was never any reason for you to fear anything." Akito stated to his daughter. "We would always support you in any decision you made and always feel pride of you."

The two girls were deeply moved by those manifestations of love. Ichigo laughed nervously. "I don't know about you, Yume, but I'm feeling terribly stupid right now."

"You're already laughing? You recover too fast, you know?" Yume smiled weakly. "I do feel stupid. I wish I could forget the stupid things I've done."

"Don't say that!" Kaya reprehended. "If it weren't for the stupid things, people wouldn't be able to grow up!"

"And even stupid things can lead you to happiness in a tortuous way." Miho added wisely.

Ichigo unconsciously turned her head to the bedroom's direction.

Yume looked to Takuya.

And they both thought _yeah._

**Days later.**

Hasegawa-san had used his influence to send Kouji to a mental institution and avoid charges. Akane visited his son every day. The doctors explained that the former animator was suffering from a serious case of denial but would receive the best care he could and would probably recover. On a sunny day, Akane found Kouji walking on the garden of the hospital under the supervision of a nurse. When he saw his mother, the young man ran to her and hugged the woman happily.

"Mommy, you're late! We were waiting for you!"

"We?" Akane asked, fearing the answer.

"Dad and me, of course!" Kouji replied, pointing to the air. "We're going to celebrate that the Magic Leaf is going to animate a manga of Ashirogi Muto!"

Akane bit her lower lip and forced a smile.

"That's true, we have to celebrate."

Kouji was beaming and gesticulating quickly while he talked to his invisible father. Akane wanted to cry, but she stayed strong_. I wasn't the best mother you could have had, Kouji. I shouldn't have let you push me aside and isolate yourself. You suffered so much, my love. You are so damaged. But I'm going to redeem myself. I'll take care of you, son. I'll help you get better._

After Akira was released from the hospital, explained to his family and friends how he had been attacked and heard what Kouji had done, he waited for a good opportunity to propose to Ichigo. He kept the blue plastic ring in his pocket every day. Rumi had been distressed on a certain evening, after she finished her work; she couldn't stop looking at her watch.

"Is something bothering you, Saotome-san?" Hiramaru asked in a polite tone.

Rumi wondered whether she should tell her bosses the truth. She decided to do so.

"You know that I'm dating my boss in Young Jump, right?"

"We pretty much deduced it." Akira answered.

"Well… Fukuda-sensei is going to introduce me to his father today. I think our relationship might be getting serious."

"Fukuda?" Hiramaru was surprised. "I've heard stories about a Team Fukuda from my mother. Is your boyfriend related to that Fukuda-sensei?"

"Ken's father was a mangaka in Jump before his wife died. Now he only takes care of a lamen shop." Rumi explained. "I'm worried. What if his father doesn't like me? I don't even know if I'm ready for a serious relationship."

"Listen, Saotome!" Akira stood up from his sit. "Sometimes you have to follow your heart and take risks! If the man doesn't like you, make him like you! If you don't know whether or not you're ready for a new level in your relationship, just try it out and then come to a conclusion!"

Rumi had been convinced by those words and left the apartment immediately to meet Fukuda Ken. Akira touched the ring through the pocket's fabric and took a decision too.

"Takuya, would you mind taking Mashiro to eat an ice cream? I want to talk privately to my girlfriend."

"Sure." Hiramaru agreed, getting out of their place. Akira waited five minutes, to be sure that his two friends were gone, and went to knock on Ichigo's door.

"Akira? Something happened? Yume and Takuya had just left." The girl spoke, opening the door. Akira quickly kneed in front of her, took the ring out, and offered it to the woman.

"L-Let's encourage each other for the rest of our lives. Please m-m-m-marry me." He proposed, nervously.

Ichigo stared at the boy for five seconds, trying to understand the meaning behind the plastic ring. When she noticed Niizuma's anxious expression, she replied.

"Of course I'll marry you, silly."

"YES!" He unintentionally screamed, going back to his feet. "Oh, man! We have to start planning the wedding! It must be a big party! We must invite everyone!"

"Wow, calm down, Niizuma." Ichigo contested, smiling. "Why the rush? Let's stay engaged for a year or more and then make a small wedding."

"WHAT?!" Akira didn't approve the idea at all. "I waited my whole life to marry you, don't take this moment away from me, woman!"

"It's my wedding too, damn it! My opinion is as valid as yours!" Ichigo was getting mad.

"It seems that we need to work on a way out of this dilemma." Akira sighed. "How about this: Let's compete to see which manga can take first place for ten weeks. The winner chooses the date and the type of the wedding."

Ichigo was visibly fired up. They both shook hands as they said "Deal!"

Their family would never be normal.

Yume and Takuya bought ice cream in the same store they did on the night the man confessed his feelings and his determination to fight for her. It felt as if many years had passed since that night but both of them treasured those memories. They sat on the sidewalk and began to eat.

"How are you feeling?"

"You don't need to ask me this every time we see each other, Takuya."

"I'm sorry. I worry about you."

"I know that. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your concern, but I'm not made of glass, you know?"

"Of course I know."

They loved each other and knew they were corresponded. However, it had been difficult for them to talk normally.

"Are we dating?" Yume asked suddenly.

"I-I don't know. I never dated before, I have no idea how this works." Takuya wasn't sure about what to say. "Do you… do you want…?"

"Does it feel abrupt to you? I mean… my change of heart?" Yume had a concerned tone of voice.

"Well… I always had this hope that you would change your feelings… and we got closer with the time. It wasn't abrupt. Actually, I think it took too long, perhaps because I was the one waiting and hoping. But I'm happy that you fell in love for my character with all my faults and imperfections. It makes me so happy that I want to cry." Takuya confessed, feeling humidity in his eyes. Yume caressed his face.

"I used to get nervous very often… to feel inadequate and insecure… it's funny but I think after I met you…" Yume was trying not to cry "… I began to change. And I began to see myself in a different light and appreciate me more. You are an incredible person. I don't mind that you're a dork or that you're clumsy or a huge fan shoujo manga… I adore everything about you. I'm sorry for taking so long to realize… I'm so sorry…"

Takuya hugged Yume tenderly and kissed her forehead. She smiled and pulled him closer so their lips could touch. No more words were needed for them.

_I used to hate it when people found out who my parents were. I don't mind it at all today. I'm proud of them. Not only because of their professionalism… I'm proud of them for whom they are. They believed in love and fought for their dreams without ever forgetting the reality. They are strong, brave and passionate. My story might not resemble theirs so much. My choices might have been very distinct, but it doesn't matter. I'm happy for having them as parents. And for having Ichigo, Takuya and Akira in my life. I'm happy for being a mangaka…_

_I am happy for having found love._


End file.
